-m 


ADDRESSES 


DEATH  or  HOI.  OWEN  LOYEJOY, 


DELIVERED    IN    THE 


SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 


MONDAY,  inARen  38,  1S61. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTINO  OFFICE. 

1»64. 


■CQj 


m  m 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 

Saturday,  July  2,  1864. 

Resolved,  That  there  be  printed  for  the  use  of  the  House  three  thousand 
copies  of  the  addresses  delivered  in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
on  the  death  of  the  late  Owen  Lovejoy. 


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ADDRESSES 


DEATH  OF  HON.  0¥EI  LOVEJOY. 


IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  EEPEESENTATIVES, 
Monday,  March  28,  1864. 


Address  of  Mr.  Washbuene,  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  Speaker  :  It  becomes  my  duty  to  annomice  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  the  death  of  Hon.  Owen 
LovEJOY,  a  representative  in  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  from  the  State  of  IlUnois.  Mr.  Lovejoy 
expired  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  New  York,  on  Friday 
evening  last,,  March  25,  1864.  A  man  of  an  iron  con- 
stitution, he  had  always  enjoyed  the  most  robust  health 
until  a  short  time  before  the  expiration  of  the  last 
Congress.  He  was  then  stricken  down  by  a  sudden 
and  severe  illness,  which  detained  him  at  the  capital 
for  some  time  after  the  Congress  had  expired.  Re- 
turning to  his  home,  he  partially  regained  his  health 
during  the  last  summer  and  autumn.  Taking  his  seat 
in  Congress  at  the  commencement  of  the  session,  in 
the  hopeful  and  buoyant  feelings  of  his  nature  he  flat- 
tered himself  with  the  idea  of  health  recovered  and 
energies  regained,  but  there  was  something  in  his 
altered  look  which,  even  to  the  unpracticed  eye,  told 
of  disease   and   death,   creating  in  the  minds  of  his 


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friends  the  gravest  apprehensions.  During  the  holidays, 
in  response  to  the  pressing  invitations  of  his  friends,  he 
visited  Portland,  Maine,  and  delivered  a  public  address 
on  the  great  events  which  are  now  challenging  the 
attention  of  the  country  and  of  the  world.  It  was  his 
last  effort  at  public  speaking,  and  it  was  worthy  of  his 
name  and  his  fame  in  his  palmiest  days,  and  the  news  of 
his  death  will  reach  that  delighted  auditory  beforethe  ac- 
cents of  his  eloquent  utterances  will  have  died  away. 

Coming  back  to  Washington  after  the  recess  of  Con- 
gress, he  soon  had  a  return  of  the  disease  which  had 
prostrated  him  nearly  a  year  before.  After  several 
weeks'  confinement  to  his  room  and  to  his  bed,  he  had 
so  far  recovered  as  to  believe  himself  able  to  partially 
resume  his  duties  in  this  house.  He  attended  our 
sittings  a  short  time  for  several  days,  but  his  eye  had 
lost  its  brightness,  and  the  unwonted  and  ghastly  pallor 
of  his  cheek  told,  alas !  but  too  plainly,  that  death  had 
already  marked  him  as  its  early  victim.  Stimulated 
by  the  stirring  events  of  the  passing  hour,  the  import- 
ant legislation  of  Congress,  and  the  claims  of  a  con- 
stituency whose  interests  he  had  never  neglected  or 
betrayed,  and  whose  convictions  he  had  never  misrep- 
resented, the  eflbrt  he  made  to  resume  his  duty  among 
us  was  too  much  for  him.  A  partial  relapse  was  the 
consequence,  and  then  it  was  determined  that  he  should, 
for  a  time,  leave  the  excitement  of  the  capital  and  visit 
a  more  southern  and  a  more  genial  climate,  in  the  hope 
that  his  shattered  and  broken  health  might  yet  be 
restored.  He  left  here  for  New  York  city  some  ten 
days  ago,  but  the  trip  thither  was  too  hard  for  him  to 


^■ 


-@) 


bear,  and  he  was  unable  to  pursue  his  journey  further. 
From  that  time  he  became  rapidly  worse  until  he  ex- 
pired at  the  time  I  have  stated.  Though  dying  away 
from  his  own  beloved  home,  he  was  yet  surrounded  not 
only  by  kind  and  sympathizing  friends,  but  by  members 
of  his  own  family,  and  the  pangs  of  his  parting  life 
were  assuaged  by  the  affection  and  the  care  of  a 
devoted  wife. 

Mr.  LovEJOY  was  born  at  Albion,  in  the  State  of 
Maine,  on  the  7th  day  of  January,  1811,  and  was  con- 
sequently, at  the  time  of  his  death,  a  little  over  fifty- 
three  years  of  age.  The  son  of  a  Congregational 
clergyman  in  a  country  town,  his  early  life  was  devoted 
to  labor  upon  a  farm  and  to  the  acquisition  of  such  an 
education  as  he  could  obtain  at  a  New  England  "  dis- 
trict school."  He  entered  Bowdoin  College  at  the  age 
of  twenty-one  years,  and  remained  there  for  three 
years,  and  then  entered  upon  the  pursuit  of  theological 
studies.  He  removed  to  Illinois  in  1836.  In  1839  he 
was  ordained  as  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church 
at  Princeton,  in  that  State,  and  remained  its  pastor 
nearly  seventeen  years.  It  was  his  only  charge,  and 
he  there  proclaimed,  according  to  his  own  statement, 
the  "  everlasting  evangel  of  the  fatherhood  of  God,  the 
sonship  of  Christ,  and  the  brotherhood  of  man."  His 
first  entrance  into  political  life  was  in  1854,  when  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  lower  house  of  the  Illinois 
legislative  assembly.  In  1856  he  was  first  elected  to 
Congress  for  the  then  third  congressional  district  of 
Illinois,  and  he  was  twice  re-elected  from  that  district. 
In  the  redistricting  of  the  State  in  1861,  he  was  again 


®' 


elected  to  the  present  Congress  from  the  fifth  district, 
having  thus  been  elected  four  times,  and  having  served 
for  a  longer  period,  mth  four  exceptions,  than  any  man 
ever  elected  from  that  State.  This  great  fact  speaks, 
in  unmistakable  language,  of  the  hold  which  he  had 
upon  the  confidence  and  affections  of  his  constituents. 
Mr.  Speaker,  Owen  Lovejoy  was  no  common  man. 
In  saying  that  in  his  death  a  great  man  has  fallen,  I 
speak  it  in  no  common  or  hackneyed  sense,  for  he  was 
great.  He  was  great  in-  the  leading  idea  of  his  life ; 
great  in  his  convictions ;  great  in  the  elements  of  his 
character ;  great  in  his  eloquence  ;  great  in  his  courage ; 
and  great  in  his  abiding  and  ever-living  faith  in  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  the  eternal  principles  of  right, 
justice,  and  humanity.  No  man  who  has  succeeded  in 
stamping  his  ideas  and  his  principles,  as  he  has,  with 
the  impress  of  indelibility,  upon  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  men,  could  be  an  ordinary  man.  Early  impressed 
with  convictions  in  regard  to  the  subject  of  American 
slavery,  he  followed  those  convictions  with  unswervinii^ 
fidelity,  in  the  face  of  danger,  of  obloquy,  and  reproach. 
His  natural  abhorrence  of  slavery  was  quickened  by 
the  tragic  fate  of  a  beloved  brother,  who  fell  a  victim 
to  his  opposition  to  that  institution,  and  who  illustrated 
his  principles  by  his  blood,  shed  by  a  lawless  mob.  In 
the  advancement  of  this  great  idea  of  his  life  Mr. 
LoYEJOY  toiled  with  an  earnestness  and  zeal  which 
were  "  without  variableness  or  shadow  of  turning ; " 
and  in  the  pursuit  of  his  great  object  it  could  truly 
have  been  said  of  him — 

"No  dangers  daunted  and  no  labors  tired." 


is- 


-m 


HON.    OWEN    LOVEJOY. 


The  heated  denunciations  of  partisans,  the  ridicule  and 
clamor  of  the  vulgar,  and  the  threats  of  the  cowardly 
and  the  base,  failed  alike  to  turn  him  from  that  great 
purpose  of  his  life,  which,  like  the 

"  Pontic  sea,  knew  no  retiring  ebb," 
and  which  purpose  he  pursued  with  unfaltering  devotion 
to  the  last  moment  of  his  earthly  existence.  If  he  did 
not  live  to  see  the  end  of  that  stupendous  struggle 
which  was  to  establish  the  great  problem  which  he  had 
spent  his  life  in  working  out,  like  Moses  he  saw  the 
promised  land,  bright  and  beautiful,  as  the  last  object 
upon  which  his  expiring  eyes  fell. 

I  cannot,  Mr.  Speaker,  dwell  at  length  upon  the 
striking  incidents  of  the  life  of  my  late  colleague,  nor 
shall  the  partiality  of  a  long  and  uninterrupted  personal 
and  political  friendship  lead  me  to  trespass  too  long 
upon  the  time  of  the  House.  But  serving  with  him 
for  three  full  Congresses  in  this  house,  I  should  be 
•recreant  to  my  own  sense  of  what  is  due  to  truth  and 
justice  did  I  not  bear  my  testimony  to  the  distinguished 
ability  and  the  great  usefulness  with  which  he  served 
his  constituents,  his  State,  and  the  country,  as  a  repre- 
sentative in  the  American  Congress.  As  a  legislator 
he  was  wise,  intelligent,  practical,  vigilant,  independent, 
and,  above  all,  incorruptible.  He  was  devoted  to  every 
duty  to  his  country  and  to  his  constituents.  Wherever 
there  was  any  principle  involved,  he  was  as  firm  and 
unyielding  as  the  hills  of  his  own  native  State.  Yet, 
in  all  matters  of  mere  policy,  involving  no  surrender  of 
principle,  there  was  no  man  more  ready  or  more  willing 
to  yield  to  the  suggestions  of  others.     It  is  perhaps  the 


a- 


'@0 


case  that  where  men  have  been  devoted  to  a  particular 
idea,  they  are  generally  impracticable  in  all  other  mat- 
ters, but  it  was  not  so  with  our  late  associate.  He 
was  eminently  a  practical  man,  and  a  man  of  great 
common  sense,  a  good  judge  of  human  nature,  and 
familiar  with  the  workings  of  the  human  heart. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  deceased  as  a  pul)lic  man,  but 
who  shall  speak  of  the  virtues  which  adorned  his  pri- 
vate life  1  Who  shall  speak  of  him  as  husband,  father, 
friend,  neighbor,  citizen?  He  was  so  genial  in  his 
intercourse,  of  a  sympathy  so  quick  and  ready,  so  kind, 
affectionate,  and  generous,  that  there  seemed  combined 
in  him  all  these  qualities  which  challenged  the  love 
and  admiration  of  those  who  best  knew  him,  and  which 
disarmed  the  resentment  of  enemies,  and  endeared  him 
to  the  hearts  of  friends.  Upon  the  immediate  family 
of  our  late  colleague  has  this  blow  fallen  with  crushing 
force.  No  words  of  human  sympathy  or  condolence 
can  stanch  the  wounds  of  bleeding  affection,  and  it  is 
alone  to  Him  who  "tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn 
lamb  "  that  the  appeal  must  be  made. 

Mr.  Speaker,  the  proceedings  of  this  house  as  pub- 
lished in  the  congressional  annals  for  the  last  six  years 
w^ill  furnish  an  undying  record  of  the  services  and 
labors  of  the  distinguished  man  whose  loss  the  country 
so  deeply  deplores.  Serving  during  a  part  of  the  most 
interesting  and  turbulent  periods  of  our  congressional 
history,  he  was  one  of  the  most  active  participants  in 
those  scenes  in  the  House  which,  to  the  student  of 
history,  were  the  precursors  of  that  terrible  civil  com- 
motion which  has  since  drenched  our  land  in  blood 

p. ^ m 


and  made  the  civilized  world  to  .stand  acjhast.  I  niiofht 
call  to  your  recollection,  Mr.  Speaker,  and  to  the  recol- 
lection of  those  members  of  this  house  who  were 
members  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Congress,  that  extraordi- 
nary scene  in  the  House  of  the  5th  of  April,  1860, 
and  which  has  scarcely  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  any 
deliberative  assembly  in  the  world.  It  was  on  that 
occasion  that  he  displayed  that  undaunted  courage  and 
matchless  bearing  which  extorted  the  admiration  of 
even  his  most  deadly  foes.  But  I  need  not  recount  to 
you,  sir,  the  many  other  occasions  during  your  service 
when  he  has  electrified  the  House  by  his  outbursts  of 
eloquence.  With  a  mind  well  stored  with  classic 
learning,  with  a  vigorous  and  enlightened  understand- 
ing, with  a  fine  personal  presence,  he  was  one  of  the 
greatest  of  orators,  while  yet  he  scorned  the  ordinary 
ai'tifices  of  eloquence.  His  was  the  eloquence  of  Mira- 
beau,  which  in  the  Tiers  Etat  and  in  the  national 
assembly  made  to  totter  the  throne  of  France ;  it  was 
the  eloquence  of  Danton,  wdio  made  all  France  to 
tremble  from  his  tempestuous  utterances  in  the  national 
convention.  Like  those  apostles  of  the  French  revo- 
lution, his  eloquence  could  stir  from  the  lowest  depths 
all  the  passions  of  man;  but,  unlike  them,  he  was  as 
good  and  as  pure  as  he  was  eloquent  and  brave,  a  noble- 
minded  Christian  man,  a  lover  of  the  whole  hirtnan 
race  and  of  universal  liberty  regulated  by  law.  While 
from  this  tribune  he  spoke  to  the  nation,  and  left  upon 
it  the  impress  of  his  principles  and  his  convictions  and 
of  his  master  mind,  the  theatre  of  his  greatest  triumphs 
as  an  orator  was  on  the  stump  and  before  the  masses 


of  the  people.  It  was  in  his  own  State,  where  he  was 
known  the  best  and  heard  the  oftenest,  that  he  achieved 
his  greatest  distinction  as  an  orator.  In  the  presence 
of  the  people  he  was  invincible.  Whatever  might 
have  been  affected  against  him  by  political  or  personal 
j)rejndice,  whenever  he  reached  the  popular  ear  all  was 
scattered  as  if  by  a  whirlwind.  But  he  has  left  us  in 
the  pride  of  his  manhood,  and  in  the  fulness  of  his 
intellectual  vigor — gone  almost  at  the  moment  when 
he  expected  to  s^e  accomplished  the  great  work  to 
which  he  had  devoted  his  life.  He  expressed  that 
exjjectation  in  his  great  speech  of  April  5,  1860,  by  a 
cpiotation  from  the  speech  of  Mr.  Webster  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  threatened  interposition  of  Russia  to  snatch 
Kossuth  from  the  protection  of  Turkey  for  the  purpose 
of  sacrificing  him  on  the  altar  of  despotism  ;  and  I  will 
close  with  that  quotation  : 

"  Gentlemen,  there  is  something  ou  earth  greater  than  arbitrary 
or  despotic  power.  The  lightning  has  its  power,  and  the  whirlwind 
has  its  power,  and  the  earthquake  has  its  power,  but  there  is  some- 
thing among  men  more  capable  of  shaking  despotic  thrones  than 
lightning,  whirlwind,  or  earthquake,  and  that  is  the  excited  and 
aroused  indignation  of  the  whole  civilized  world. 

"  '  The  Avon  to  the  Severn  runs  ; 
The  Severn  to  the  sea ; 
And  Wickliffe's  dust  shall  spread  abroad 
Wide  as  the  waters  be.'  " 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  submit  the  following  resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  this  house  has  heard  Avith  profound  sorrow  the 
announcement  of  the  death  of  Hon.  Owen  Lovejoy,  a  member  of 
this  house  from  the  fifth  congressional  district  of  the  State  of  Illinois. 

Resolved,  That  this  house  tenders  to  the  widow  and  relatives  of 


■D 


m- 


HON.    OWEN    LOVEJOY. 


11 


-m 


the  deceased  the  expression  of  its  deep  sympathy  in  this  afflicting 
bereavement. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  of  this  house  communicate  to  the 
widow  of  the  deceased  a  copy  of  these  resohitions. 

Resolved,  That  the  Speaker  appoint  a  committee  of  three  to  escort 
the  remains  of  the  deceased  to  the  place  designated  by  his  friends 
for  his  interment. 

Resolved,  That,  as  an  additional  mark  of  respect  for  the  memory 
of  the  deceased,  the  members  of  this  house  will  Avear  the  usual 
badge  of  mourning  on  the  left  arm  for  thirty  days. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  communicated  to 
the  Senate ;  and,  as  a  further  mark  of  respect,  that  this  house  do 
now  adjourn. 


Add?-ess  of  Mr.  J.  C.  Allen,  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  Speaker  :  I  rise  to  second  the  resolutions  of  my 
colleague.  In  the  death  of  Owen  Lovejoy  we  have 
another  evidence  of  the  uncertainty  of  life  How  im- 
pressive is  the  sentence,  that  man  "  cometh  forth  like  a 
flower,  and  is  cut  down ;  he  fleeth  also  as  a  shadow, 
and  continueth  not."  Well  may  we  say  that  "  in  the 
midst  of  life  we  are  in  death." 

Of  the  private  character  of  the  deceased  I  cannot 
speak.  Of  the  years  that  he  spent  as  a  citizen  of  my 
own  State,  and  of  his  struggles,  I  cannot  speak,  for  my 
acquaintance  with  him  dates  from  his  first  appearance 
in  this  hall  as  a  member  of  this  house.  I  have  known 
him  from  that  time  as  a  fearless  and  bold  advocate  of 
his  opinions,  not  stopping  at  any  time  to  inquire 
whether  they  were  popular  or  otherwise,  but  constantly 
pressing  on  to  the  accomplishment  of  those  purposes 


m' 


-m 


p.. 


12  OBITUARY    ADDRESSES. 

which  he  thought  would  best  subserve  the  interests  of 
his  coimtry  and  his  race.  In  many  of  those  •opinions  I 
diifered  from  him,  and  yet  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  say 
that  notwithstanding  these  difterences,  at  times,  even, 
when  the  excitement  on  these  questions  became  most 
fearful,  his  conduct  toward  me  was  always  kind.  In 
our  official  and  personal  intercourse  nothing  ever  oc- 
curred to  disturb  our  personal  friendship  toward  each 
other. 

Mr.  LovEJOY,  as  is  known  by  all  his  acquaintances, 
was  a  vigorous  thinker,  and  adhered  to  his  views  and 
opinions  \\itli  great  tenacity,  convincing  us  of  the 
sincerity  of  his  convictions.  He  was  a  man  of  extensive 
information,  of  scholarly  acquirements.  Without  high 
tbrensic  powers,  he  was  always  formidable  in  debate, 
either  in  tlie  forum  or  before  his  fellow-citizens.  When 
his  health  permitted  him,  he  was  assiduous  in  the  dis- 
charge of  all  his  public  duties.  He  was  seldom  found 
absent  from  his  post.  The  district  which  enjoyed  him 
as  their  representative  will  necessarily  iu  that  regard 
feel  deeply  his  loss. 

But,  alas  !  in  middle  life,  in  the  fulness  of  his  mental 
and  physical  powers,  disease  came  and  laid  its  hand 
upon  him,  and  his  robust  constitution  sank  beneath  its 
power.  AVhen  he  last  appeared  in  his  seat  in  this  hall 
he  was  but  the  shadow  of  his  former  self  The  last 
time  I  met  him  on  this  floor,  and  expressed  the  hope 
that  returning  health  and  vigor  would  soon  enable  him 
again  to  participate  actively  in  the  business  of  the 
House  as  a  representative,  I  remember  his  answer. 
It  was,  '•  I  have  been  very  near  to  the  portals  of  death 


WM^.     -     ^     A 


and  eternity ;  I  feel  that  I  mnst  soon  enter  there." 
And  he  looked  as  though  he  was  expecting  and  was 
prepared  to  meet  the  messenger  on  the  pale  horse. 

He  has  passed  from  these  halls.  His  seat  is  now 
vacant.  The  place  which  has  known  him  shall  know 
him  no  more  forever.  Let  iis  learn  from  his  death 
how  uncertain  is  the  tenure  by  which  we  hold  our  own 
lives,  and  how  trifling  become  earthly  honors  and 
earthly  powers  when  they  are  brought  face  to  face 
with  death.  May  we  by  this  dispensation  be  induced 
to  heed  that  solemn  warning,  "  Be  ye  also  ready." 


Address  of  Mr.  Stevens,  of  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  Speakee  :  A  few  words  shall  suffice  for  me,  for 
the  deceased  filled  so  large  a  space  in  the  public  eye 
that  nothing  which  can  be  said  here  can  give  the  House 
or  the  people  any  better  idea,  of  his  character  and 
principles. 

So  clear  was  his  perception  and  so  forcible  his  dic- 
tion, that  no  hearer  could  misunderstand  his  meaning. 

He  had  a  ripe  education,  and  was  well  versed  in 
classic  and  modern  literature. 

Educated  for  the  pulpit,  his  scriptural  knowledge, 
judiciously  used,  gave  force  and  elevation  to  his  argu- 
ment 

While  he  took  a  deep  interest  in  everything  that 
affected  the  public  welfare,  his  whole  heart  and  soul 
were  alive  to  the  great  cause  of  human  freedom. 


3)- 


-@ 


m- 


14  OBITUARY    ADDRESSES. 

He  was  not  afraid  to  defend  tlie  rights  of  the  in- 
jured and  oppressed  of  every  race,  in  this  house,  nor 
ashamed  to  unite  with  them  in  worship  and  kneel  at 
the  same  altar. 

The  change  to  liim  is  great  gain.  The  only  regret 
we  can  feel  is  that  he  did  not  live  to  see  the  salvation 
of  his  country ;  to  see  peace  and  union  restored,  and 
universal  emancipation  given  to  his  native  land.  But 
such  are  the  ways  of  Providence.  Moses  was  not  per- 
mitted to  enter  the  promised  land  with  those  he  had 
led  out  of  bondage ;  he  beheld  it  from  afar  off,  and 
slept  with  his  fathers. 

If  his  hatred  of  slavery  sometimes  seemed  too  in- 
tense, it  must  be  remembered  that  in  early  life  he  saw 
a  beloved  brother  murdered  by  the  northern  minions 
of  that  infamous  institution.  No  wonder  that  it  deep- 
ened his  detestation  of  it,  and  gave  unwonted  vigor  to 
his  anathemas. 

We  are  permitted  to  linger  yet  a  little  while  in  this 
land  of  error  and  of  pajn,  while  he  is  called  to  join  the 
assembled  throng  cf  "just  men  made  perfect." 

The  deceased  has  left  among  the  archives  of  his 
country  the  most  solid  testimonials  of  his  virtue  an'd 
courage.  He  needs  no  perishable  monument  of  brass 
or  marble  to  perpetuate  his  name.  So  long  as  the 
English  language  shall  be  spoken  or  deciphered,  so 
long  as  liberty  shall  have  a  worshipper,  his  name  will 
be  known. 

Moses  was  buried  in  the  land  of  the  stranger,  and 
"  no  man  knoweth  of  his  sepulchre  unto  this  day,"  but 
his  name  is  immortal. 


©' 


IBl- 


HON.    OWEN    LOVE  JOY. 


15 


•m 


Address  of  Mr.  Farnsworth,  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  Speaker  :  It  is  now  nearly  twenty  years  since  I 
first  became  acquainted  with  Owen  Lovejoy.  At  that 
time  there  were  gathered  together  in  a  httle  church, 
in  the  town  where  I  still  reside,  a  few  friends  of  free- 
dom. They  came  from  different  parts  of  a  large 
district,  embracing  nearly  the  whole  northeastern  quar- 
ter of  the  State  of  Illinois,  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
counsel  together  and  determining  what  action  duty 
demanded  of  them  toward  their  country  and  toward 
the  slave.  Texas  had  then  recently  been  annexed,  and 
the  slave  power  thereby  largely  augmented.  This  it 
was  there  and  then  prophesied  would  prove  a  Pandora's 
box  from  which  would  spring  all  manner  of  ills  to  the 
country.  There  were  not  many  at  that  convention, 
■yet  it  embraced  nearly  all  of  the  professed  "anti- 
slavery"  or  "liberty"  men  in  many  of  the  towns  and 
counties  of  that  district.  At  that  meeting  a  "  liberty 
party  "  was  organized,  and  Owen  Lovejoy  was  nomi- 
nated as  our  candidate  for  Congress.  It  was  there  I 
first  met  him ;  since  then  we  have  been  friends ;  as  all, 
I  think,  have  been  who  formed*  that  little  band  of 
brothers.  It  seemed  a  foolish  thing  to  the  masses  and 
a  very  absurd  thing  to  the  politicians  of  that  day  thus 
to  cut  loose  from  the  great  political  parties,  without  the 
faintest  hope  of  electing  or  even  getting  votes  enough 
to  make  the  poll  respectable ;  and  many  were  the  jeers 


•Id] 


of  derision  at  the  party  and  its  candidate.     Indeed,  it 
seemed  a  forlorn  hope — 

"  Forlorn,  forlorn, 
Bearing  the  scorn 
Of  the  meanest  of  mankind." 

To  "canvass"  and  "stump"  the  district  was  the 
custom  of  the  country,  and  expected  of  the  candidates, 
and,  though  it  required  much  nerve  to  face  the  mobs, 
all  over  that  large  district  was  the  clarion  voice  of 
LovEJOY  heard  by  his  electrifying  and  earnest  eloquence 
conquering,  if  not  the  convictions  of  the  people,  at  least 
their  respect  and  admiration.  He  had  caught  an  in- 
spiration from  the  eloquent  wounds  of  a  martyred 
brother  murdered  by  the  accursed  spirit  of  slavery ; 
and  over  his  mangled  corpse  had  registered  a  covenant 
with  his  God  of  eternal  hostility  to  that  fell  demon ; 
and  from  that  day  to  the  hour  of  his  death  steadfastly 
and  well  has  he  '"  kept  the  faith."  Nobly  and  valiantly 
has  he  "  fought  the  good  fight."  No  sturdier  blows 
have  been  struck  than  his,  and  no  more  eloquent  voice, 
I  may  truly  say,  has  been  heard  the  nation  over  in 
arousing  the  people  to  a  sense  of  the  ^ruel  injustice 
and  evil  effects  of  slavery ;  and  yet  never,  from  the 
time  we  met  in  the  little  church  to  his  expiring  breath, 
did  he  teach  the  violation  of  a  single  provision  or  word 
of  the  Constitution  6f  his  country. 

As  a  public  speaker  the  deceased  had  no  superior. 
Possessing  in  a  most  remarkable  degree  that  electric 
power  which  brings  an  audience  into  harmony  and 
sympathy  with  the  speaker,  with  his  fine  and  self- 
possessed  presence,  his  clear,  ringing  voice,  his  distinct 


•m 


but  earnest  utterances,  his  vivid  and  fascinating  im- 
agery, and,  above  all,  that  manner  which  shows  the 
sold  of  the  speaker  in  his  words,  he  held  his  hearers 
spell-bound,  or  moved  them  at  his  will. 

He  was  a  bold  man ;  brave  in  the  sense  of  true 
heroism.  This  is  an  age  and  a  nation  of  brave  men ; 
but  it  is  not  every  man  who  faces  the  cannon,  the 
Minie,  or  the  charge,  that  is  truly  brave.  Pride  may 
keep  him  up — he  may  be  afraid  to  be  a  coward. 

My  deceased  colleague  was  never  afraid  to  do  right, 
to  espouse  the  side  of  the  despised,  to  face  the  hissing, 
jeering  world,  to  make  "  himself  of  no  reputation,"  as 
did  his  Master,  for  truth's  sake. 

On  one  occasion,  indicted  by  a  grand  jury  for  giving 
food  and  raiment  to  a  poor  woman  who  came,  footsore 
and  starving,  to  his  door,  on  her  weary  way  from  a  land 
of  chains  to  a  land  of  freedom,  he  faced  court,  jury,  bar, 
and  witnesses,  and  against  their  statutes  and  their 
special  pleading  beat  them  with  the  righteousness  of 
his  act. 

At  another  time  he  faced  an  armed  and  threatening 
mob  who  had  seized  and  bound  a  man  whose  only 
criuie  was  a  dark  skin,  cut  his  fetters  and  "let  the 
oppressed  go  free,"  while  the  mob,  awe-struck  by  his 
presence  and  determined  manner,  slunk  away  in  silence. 

He  had  faith  in  truth,  and  never  doubted  its  final 
triumph.     He  believed,  as  a  poet  phrases  it,  that 

"  Never  a  trutli  lias  been  destroyed  ; 
You  may  curse  it  and  call  it  crime, 
Pervert  and  betray,  and  slander  and  slay 
Its  teachers  for  a  time  ; 


m- 


m- 


18 


OBITUARY    ADDRESSES. 


-1 


But  the  truth  shall  triumph  at  the  last 

As  round  aud  round  Ave  run, 
And  ever  the  wrong  shall  be  proved  to  be  wrong, 

And  ever  shall  justice  be  done." 

We  entered  this  house  together  six  years  ago,  and 
he  continued  a  member  of  it  until  his  decease.  During 
the  four  years  in  which  I  was  a  member  with  him  our 
districts  were  adjoining,  and  well  do  I  know  that  never 
did  a  constituency  have  fuller  confidence  in  or  love  a 
member  more  than  his.  As  a  legislator  he  was  ever 
attentive  to  the  wants  and  interests  of  his  constituents, 
while  he  never  lost  sight  of  the  great  and  paramount 
interests  of  the  whole  country. 

In  a  struggle  such  as  this  nation  is  now  engaged  in 
none  need  be  told  how  Lovejoy  w^ould  stand.  For 
such  as  he  there  could  be  but  the  one  course :  faithful, 
determined,  energetic  support  of  the  cause  of  freedom 
and  the  Union,  And  there  he  was.  It  is  a  pity  he 
could  not  have  lived  to  see  the  termination  of  this 
struggle  and  the  final  end  of  that  great  curse  which 
was  and  is  the  cause  of  it.  But,  thank  God,  he  did 
live  to  see  his  faith  adopted  by  the  popular  heart,  and 
to  witness  the  death-throes  of  the  institution  he  had 
so  long  and  nobly  battled.  Well  has  he  avenged  the 
murder  of  the  martyred  brother,  who  may  have  watched 
and  waited  for  this  meeting. 

But,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  arose  not  to  give  a  biography  of 
my  deceased  colleague — only  to  pay  a  brief  tribute 
to  his  memory. 

It  is  said  that  all  men  have  their  faults  as  well  as 
virtues.    That  he  may  have  had  them  is  doubtless  true  ; 


m' 


•m 


m- 


HON.    OWEN    LOVEJOY. 


19 


-m 


but  his  virtues  so  much  more  abounded,  and  so  o'er- 
topped  his  faults,  that  they  were  seldom  seen  or  men- 
tioned ;  an  affectionate  and  devoted  husband,  a  kind 
and  indulgent  father,  a  good  neighbor,  an  exemplary 
and  consistent  Christian  minister,  a  lover  and  practicer 
of  justice,  and  a  friend  of  the  weak  and  oppressed. 

The  poor  at  his  door  were  never  turned  empty  away ; 
the  quivering  fugitive  from  the  lash  of  a  cruel  overseer 
was  fed  and  clothed  by  him,  pointed  to  the  north  star, 
and  sent  "  on  his  way  rejoicing." 

May  it  not  be  said  to  his  good  spirit.  Come,  ye 
blessed  of  my  Father;  for  I  was  hungry,  and  ye  gave 
me  meat;  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  drink;  naked,  and  ye 
clothed  me ;  sick  and  in  prison,  and  ye  came  unto  me ; 
for  inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these, 
ye  did  it  unto  me  ? 


Address  of  Mr.  Pendleton,  of  Ohio. 

Mr.  Speaker:  After  friends  and  relatives  have 
strewed  with  fresh-blown  flowers  the  new-made  and 
still  open  grave,  it  is  permitted  to  acquaintances  and 
even  to  strangers  to  approach  the  narrow  tenement 
where  lies  wrapped  in  the  cold  embrace  of  death  the 
human  form,  lately  all  instinct  with  the  impulses  of 
vigorous  life.  It  is  a  custom  which  has  grown  up  in 
tender  consideration  of  our  frail  humanity.  It  enables 
the  living  to  pay  a  silent  and  therefore  honest  tribute 
to  the  qualities  of  the  departed.  It  enables  the  dead 
at  the  last  hour  of  their  stay  on  earth,  even  though 


-m 


\ 


unconsciously,  to  do  that  which  might  well  consummate 
the  perfect  work  of  a  useful  hfe ;  to  point  the  Uving  to 
that  grave  to  which  we  are  all  hastening.  So  now,  sir, 
after  these  friends  have  strewn  this  bier  with  roses, 
made  fragrant  by  their  affections,  I,  comparatively  a 
stranger,  approach  this  mystery  of  death  to  pay  my 
tribute  and  to  receive  my  admonition.  I  have  served 
wqth  Mr.  LovEJOY  since  he  first  entered  Congress.  I 
never  met  him  off  this  floor ;  I  never  met  him  in  social 
life.  I  differed  radically  with  all  of  his  opinions  on 
public  affairs.  I  cannot  speak  of  his  personal  qualities ; 
I  cannot  follow  him  into  the  circle  of  his  friends;  I 
cannot  follow  him  into  the  more  sacred  circle  of  do- 
mestic life.  Sir,  I  knew  him  upon  the  arena  of  this 
floor ;  and  here  I  knew  him  well.  I  had  seen  him  in 
all  the  vicissitudes  of  political  life ;  I  had  seen  him 
when  his  party  upon  this  floor  was  in  a  great  minority, 
and  he  the  leader  of  the  smallest  section  of  that  party. 
I  had  seen  him  when  parties  were  so  nearly  equally 
divided  that  after  two  months'  stormy  struggle  we 
were  unable  to  elect  a  Speaker ;  and  I  saw  him  after- 
wards, when  his  party  was  largely  in  the  majority,  and 
where  he,  with  a  few  active  friends,  led  the  van  in  ex- 
ploring those  pathways  which  his  party  was  destined 
so  soon  to  tread. 

He  was  a  prompt  and  ready  debater.  He  was  an 
active  and  vigorous  thinker.  He  was  a  brave  and  bold 
apostle  of  the  faith  which  he  held.  What  he  said,  he 
thought ;  what  he  thought,  he  seemed  to  believe  in  the 
innermost  recesses  of  his  soul.  What  he  believed,  he 
uttered ;  and  what  he  uttered,  he  was  prepared  at  all 


-m 


times  to  defend,  witli  all  the  powers  that  God  had  given 
him.  He  seemed  to  be  overcome  by  the  strength  of 
his  convictions.  He  was  too  intense  to  be  always  fair ; 
he  was  too  ardent  to  be  always  just;  he  was  too 
thoroughly  convinced  of  his  own  opinions  to  be  always 
correct ;  but  it  was  the  very  strength  of  his  convictions 
which  made  him  self-reliant  and  self-confident ;  and  it 
w\as  his  entire  self-reliance  which  made  him  always 
logical  in  his  positions  ;  always  candid,  frank,  outspoken 
in  their  expression,  and  bold,  determined,  zealous,  and 
constant  in  their  defence. 

Sir,  this  is  the  tribute  which  I  would  lay  upon  this 
bier.  We  saw  him  in  the  early  portion  of  this  session 
apparently  with  the  prospect  of  a  long  life ;  soon  we 
heard  that  he  was  upon  a  bed  of  sickness ;  then  we 
saw  what  I  think  has  never  been  seen  before  in  this 
house :  an  absent  member,  sick  upon  his  bed,  sent  his 
argument  on  a  question  of  pending  legislation,  which 
by  the  consent  of  the  House  was  read  from  the  Clerk's 
desk. 

A  little  while  more,  and  we  saw  him  upon  the  floor 
of  this  house,  convalescing,  as  many  hoped,  to  a  long 
and  vigorous  life.  And  still  a  little  while,  and  w^e  are 
called  to  follow  him  to  the  dark  and  silent  tomb.  Sir, 
let  us  do  it  so  thoughtfully,  so  solemnly,  so  reverently, 
that  even  in  this  din  of  life,  in  the  secret  recesses  of 
the  heart  of  each  one  of  us,  may  be  heard  the  echoes 
of  the  voice  of  his  disembodied  spirit,  as  it  comes  to  us 
through  the  portals  of  the  eternal  world,  "  Be  ye  also 
ready ;  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not,  the  Son  of 
man  cometh." 


&!• 


-m 


p- 


22 


OBITUARY    ADDRESSES. 


-m 


m- 


Address  of  Mr.  Pike,  of  Maine. 

Mr.  Speaker:  There  are  moments  when  we  are 
arrested  by  the  stern  grasp  of  the  thought  that,  in  the 
purposes  of  the  Ahiiighty^  man  is  as  nothing.  The 
earnest  worker,  the  brave  fighter,  the  strong  thinker,  in 
the  ripeness  of  his  years  and  the  fullness  of  his  powers 
is  stricken  upon  the  field  of  his  labor  where  his  work 
seems  but  half  done.  He  departs,  and  the  earth  knows 
him  no  more,  but  the  work  of  God  goes  on. 

We  take  satisfaction  from  this  thought  as  we  pause 
beside  this  open  grave,  and,  missing  our  friend  and 
brother,  look  back  to  see  what  he  has  done  to  link  his  life 
with  ideas  that  are  eternal;  how  he  wrought  his  life-work, 
how  he  endured  its  burdens,  how  brave  he  was,  how 
cheerful,  how  hopeful  when  the  skies  were  dark  and 
the  tempest  threatened,  and  how  firmly  and  calmly  he 
met  the  shock  when  the  supreme  moment  came  and 
anarchy  made  its  dagger-thrust  at  the  nation's  life. 

I  speak  of  this,  who  from  my  boyhood  knew  him 
well.  Owen  Lovejoy  was  a  native  of  Maine ;  born, 
reared  almost,  within  the  shadow  of  those  mountains 
where  a  stern  granite  face  looking  out  from  the  cliff, 
immovable  amid  the  rage  of  the  elements,  unchanged 
by  the  changing  seasons  or  the  sweep  of  years,  seems 
like  Heaven's  impress  set  upon  New  England  character. 
The  stock  he  came  of  had  met  the  dangers  of  the 
wilderness  and  of  war.  They  could  take  firm  hold  of 
an  idea.     They  could  govern  their  lives  by  a  conviction. 


■SI 


'-m  a  •-   >.  .  ^-   V  »  ^    k«.V.V^'<  .A  A.  V<a 


They  could  die  for  a  faith.  No  wonder,  then,  this  man, 
with  his  large  heart  and  busy  brain,  his  strength  of 
will  and  energy  of  purpose,  when  he  left  New  England 
for  his  western  home,  at  once  took  rank  among  the 
men  of  influence  who  swayed  the  minds  of  other  men, 
and  were  looked  to  as  the  exponents  of  their  thought 
and  feeling.  The  sympathy  and  interest  of  his  native 
State  followed  him  to  that  home,  not  very  remote  from 
the  spot  where  his  brother's  life  had  been  sacrificed  in 
vindicating  free  speech  and  a  free  press.  Those  he  left 
behind  looked  to  see  what  he  would  do.  If  any  man  could 
fear  and  falter  and  temporize  in  upholding  an  unpopular 
cause,  certainly  he  might,  after  so  terrible  an  example  of 
what  the  dominant  power  could  do.  But  he  did  neither. 
Going  to  Illinois  to  preach,  he  never  forgot  to  denounce 
the  great  crime  of  the  nation,  and  that  without  stint. 
No  doubt  his  words  had  a  large  influence  in  producing 
the  change  of  public  sentiment  which  called  him  from 
the  pulpit  to  the  halls  of  legislation. 

It  was  the  beginning  of  the  time  of  transition.  The 
seed  which  had  been  sown  in  obscure  places,  and  had 
grown  almost  unknown,  was  beginning  to  put  forth 
fruit  for  the  harvest.  Not  only  conscience  and  religion 
were  protesting  against  the  wrongs  of  slavery,  but  an 
enlightened  common  sense  was  teaching  the  people 
that  in  denying  the  rights  of  others  they  were  losing 
their  own.  The  encroachments  of  the  slave  power 
became  menacing,  and  Mr.  Lovejoy  was  the  champion 
sent  from  his  district  to  the  Thirty-fifth  Congress  to 
protest  and  oppose.  How  well  he  did  both,  you  know; 
and  the  multitudes  that  mourn  him  to-day  through  the 


.fgl 


length  and  breadth  of  the  loyal  States  do  not  need  that 
I  should  tell.  By  word  and  deed,  by  keen  wit  and 
»harp  logic,  by  eloquent  pathos  and  most  scathing  de- 
nunciation, he  made  his  presence  felt  here  as  few  have 
been  felt,  and  sent  his  words  like  a  trumpet-blast  to  stir 
the  hearts  of  those  outside  these  walls.  And  he  was 
singularly  happy  that,  beginning  amid  so  much  opposi- 
tion and  contempt,  he  lived  to  see  the  monstrous  wrong 
against  which  he  had  vowed  ceaseless  warfare  humbled 
and  wounded  to  death. 

I  think  it  must  have  been  worth  years  of  common 
life  to  stand  in  this  hall  as  he  did  on  the  memorable 
occasion  referred  to  by  his  colleague,  [Mr.  Wash- 
BUKXE,]  after  having  repeatedly  endured  the  insults 
and  felt  the  oppression  exercised  against  those  who 
battled  for  freedom  and  the  right  of  free  speech;  to 
stand  here,  with  the  consciousness  of  power,  and  say,  as 
he  said  to  those  who  vainly  attempted  to  silence  him, 
"You  shall  hear  me.  I  will  speak.  I  stand  here  to 
say  what  I  have  to  say  about  the  great  crime  of  the 
nation.  I  will  not  yield  the  lloor."  Those  who  saw 
the  determined  face,  the  compact,  erect  form,  and  the 
uplifted  hand,  motionless  for  five  minutes  amid  the 
turmoil  of  opposing  voice,  well  know  the  earnestness  of 
the  declaration  and  the  stern  will  that  underlay  it. 

That  strength  of  will  might  sometimes  make  him 
seem  impracticable,  but  it  was  governed  by  honest 
purposes  and  a  high  sense  of  duty,  and  balanced  by  a 
sensitive  nature  full  of  noble  impulses. 

He  was  no  mere  theorist,  laying  the  burdens  of  charity 
on  other  men's  shoulders.     His  kindness  of  heart  never 


m- 


wearied  of  the  obligations  imposed  by  the  position  he 
occupied.  Philanthropists  are  said  to  become  chilled 
and  soured  in  their  struggle  to  reform  mankind,  but  he 
kept  his  warm  sympathies  and  his  genial  nature  through 
all  the  discouragements  of  the  past  and  the  perplexities 
of  these  ill-jointed  times.  This  and  his  quick  percep- 
tions and  keen  zest  of  mirth  made  him  a  delightful 
companion  for  social  hours,  while  his  firm  faith  in  God 
enabled  him  to  speak  words  of  cheer  to  sustain  the  des- 
pondent and  sorrowing.  Bitterly,  painfully  must  his  loss 
be  felt  in  the  home  he  has  left  and  the  circle  of  those 
nearest  to  him.  The  benedictions  that  cluster  round 
his  lifeless  form,  the  thrill  of  grief  that  ran  through 
many  hearts  in  many  homes  when  the  news  of  his  death 
came,  are  the  best  tribute  to  the  memory  of  a  good  man 
gone  to  his  reward — of  a  brave  man  who  fought  the 
battle  of  hfe  well,  and  won  a  victor's  crown. 

Sir,  his  place  is  henceforth  amid  the  glorious  activi- 
ties of  other  spheres,  but  the  sacred  work  to  which  he 
devoted  himself  is  still  unfinished.  The  burden  he  has 
laid  down  other  hands  must  take  up. 

"  Brothers  and  comrades,  on  you  it  is  falling, 
On  you  the  proud  voice  of  your  country  is  calling, 
While  the  lot  of  the  balance  is  trembling  on  high." 


Address  of  Mr.  Norton,  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  Speaker  :  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  occupy  more 
than  a  moment  or  two  of  the  brief  space  allotted  to 
these   mournful   proceedings.     To  what  has   been  so 


m- 


26 


OBITUARY    ADDEESSES. 


■30) 


fittingly  and  so  feelingly  said  by  those  who  have  pre- 
ceded me  I  cannot  hope  to  add  anything.  Yet  I  can- 
not allow  the  occasion  to  pass  without  offering  a  brief 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  my  distinguished  colleague. 

"  Death,"  it  is  said,  Mr.  Speaker,  "  loves  a  shining 
mark ; "  and  if  this  be  so,  surely  his  insatiate  cravings 
have  been  fully  gratified  in  the  instance  before  us. 
Owen  Lovejoy  was  no  common  man.  In  the  State  of 
his  adoption  he  had  built  uj)  a  reputation  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people  which  will  be  cherished  long  after  his 
ashes  shall  have  mouldered  back  to  their  mother  earth. 
There  has  been  mourning,  and  there  will  continue  to 
be  mourning,  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  that 
great  Commonwealth,  as  the  news  reaches  the  people 
in  their  distant  homes  that  this,  one  of  her  favorite 
sons,  has  fallen  a  victim  to  death. 

In  this  hall  he  is  mourned  to-day  by  the  members 
of  this  body,  without  distinction  of  party,  as  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  and  most  beloved  of  our  number. 

His  reputation  as  a  public  speaker  of  great  power 
was  known  and  acknowledged  throughout  the  whole 
country,  and  his  death  will  be  regarded  as  a  public 
loss. 

In  this  hall,  in  his  own  State,  and  wherever  he  was 
known,  he  was  regarded  as  a  strong  man. 

He  was  possessed  of  a  clear  and  manly  intellect,  a 
vigorous  understanding,  a  vivid  imagination,  and  great 
command  of  language.  These  had  been  strengthened 
by  long  culture.  He  had  an  almost  intuitive  knowledge 
of  the  avenues  to  the  human  heart.  His  love  of  justice 
was  strong,  and  he  had  the  courage  to  avow  and  main- 


•m 


1^- 


HON.    OWEN    LOVEJOY. 


27 


•*« 


tain  it  under  all  circumstances  and  at  all  hazards.  It 
was  these  qualities,  combined  with  a  ready  humor  and 
a  commanding  presence,  that  gave  him  such  great 
power  before  a  popular  audience.  Others  may  have 
surpassed  him  in  argument;  they  may  have  been  more 
logical,  more  learned,  more  accurate ;  but  when  the 
great  heart  of  the  people  was  to  be  moved,  when  their 
passions  were  to  be  aroused,  Mr.  Love  joy  was  found 
to  move  among  them  with  the  tread  of  a  master. 
Wherever  he  spoke  the  crowd  was  sure  to  be  found. 
His  greatest  efforts  have  been  made  in  favor  of  the 
poor  and  the  down-trodden  slave,  and  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  that  terrible  system  of  wrong  and  oppression 
which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  our  perils.  And  he 
lived  long  enough  to  see  that  his  cherished  hopes  are 
to  be  realized,  at  no  distant  day,  throughout  the  country 
which  he  loved  so  well. 

Mr.  LovEJOY  was  an  intensely  loyal  man.  From 
the  commencement  of  hostilities  to  the  hour  of  his 
death  his  energies  were  devoted  with  all  the  strength 
of  his  abilities  and  with  an  undeviating  assiduity  to  the 
crushing  out  of  the  rebellion,  and  to  the  restoration  of 
the  supremacy  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  over 
every  State  and  Territory  of  the  Union.  Surely  such 
a  record  is  worth  living  for. 

In  the  social  circle  Mr.  Love  joy  was  ever  welcome. 
Frank,  generous,  genial,  fond  of  wit  and  humor,  he 
could  always  "  set  the  table  in  a  roar,"  and  spread  a 
glow  of  kindly  feeling  wherever  he  moved. 

But  he  is  gone !  The  places  that  once  knew  him 
will  know  him  no  more  forever.     The  silver  cord  is 


m- 


D- 


28 


OBITUARY   ADDRESSES. 


loosed,  the  golden  bowl  is  broken ;  the  pitcher  is  broken 
at  the  fountain,  the  wheel  is  broken  at  the  cistern.  He 
has  gone  to  his  long  home,  and  the  mourners  go  about 
the  streets.  The  dust  shall  return  to  the  earth  as  it  was, 
and  the  spirit  shall  return  unto  who  God  gave  it.  His 
seat  is  vacant ;  his  robust  and  manly  form  lies  stark  and 
motionless  in  its  narrow  house.  The  eye  is  dim,  the 
ear  is  deaf,  the  tongue  is  silent,  and  the  heart  is  still. 
And  this  is  all  that  is  left  to  us  of  Owen  Love  joy. 

Mr.  Speaker,  death  to  most  men  is  ever  an  unwel- 
come visitor.  To  the  aged,  worn  out  with  infirmities 
and  cares  and  troubles ;  to  the  sick  and  the  wounded, 
writhing  under  agonies  from  which  there  is  no  hope  of 
relief;  to  the  unlbrtunate,  from  whose  hearts  all  hope 
has  been  crushed  out,  death  may  sometimes  be  hailed 
as  a  deliverer,  as  the  harbinger  of  rest.  But  to  the 
man  in  the  full  vigor  of  mind  and  body,  in  the  very 
midst  of  his  hopes,  his  plans,  and  his  labors,  he  must 
be  unwelcome. 

So  it  was  with  Mr.  Lovejoy.  He  was  in  the  midst 
of  his  career,  with  his  hopes,  his  plans,  his  aspirations 
only  half  accomplished.  His  iron  constitution,  his 
rol)ust  health,  his  great  physical  strength,  gave  him  the 
right,  to  all  human  view,  to  believe  that  he  had  a  fairer 
chance  for  long  life  than  most  of  his  associates.  Death 
seemed  to  come  to  him  at  an  unwelcome  moment. 

Mr.  Speaker,  this  mournful  event  speaks  in  no  uncer- 
tain language  to  us.  His  seat  is  vacant  to-day  :  whose 
will  be  vacant  to-morrow  1  This  was  his  turn :  on  whose 
shoulder  will  death  fix  his  icy  finger  next  1  You  and  I, 
sir,  are  liere  to-day  :  where  shall  we  be  to-morrow  1 


■Hi 


Mr.  Speaker,  we  mourn  not  for  our  departed  brother 
"  as  those  without  hope."  Mr.  Lovejoy  was  a  Christian. 
He  had  chosen  that  better  part  that  shall  not  be  taken 
away  from  him,  neither  in  this  life  nor  the  life  to  come. 
The  trust  he  liad  cherished,  the  hope  and  the  faith 
which  he  had  so  long  preached  to  others,  that  hope  and 
that  faith  were  his  solace  in  his  passage  through  the 
dark  valley  and  shadow  of  death,  and  accompanied  him 
to  that  other  and  better  land  "  where  the  wicked  cease 
from  troubling,  and  where  the  weary  are  at  rest." 


Address  of  Mr.  Ashley,  of  Ohio. 

Mr.  Speaker:  On  Friday  night  last  the  immortal 
spirit  of  Owen  Lovejoy  passed  from  earth.  This  sad 
message,  borne  on  the  lightning's  wing,  carried  sorrow 
to  the  hearts  of  millions.  In  his  death  the  nation  has 
lost  one  of  its  ablest,  most  accomplished,  and  eloquent 
soils,  the  slave  a  faithful  friend,  and  true  democracy  a 
cherished  defender. 

I  was  not  at  his  bedside,  and  cannot  tell  you  how  he 
died.  The  world  knows  how  he  lived  ;  and  such  a  life 
I  am  sure  could  only  have  a  fitting  close  in  a  Christian 
death.     Let  us  learn  by  his  heroic  example  that 

"  We  live  in  deeds,  not  years  ;  in  thoughts,  not  breaths  ; 
In  feelings,  not  in  figures  on  a  dial. 
"We  should  count  time  by  heart  throbs.     He  most  lives 
Who  thinks  most,  feels  the  noblest,  acts  the  best." 

Mr.  Speaker,  the  death  of  our  friend  was  not  wholly 
unexpected  by  me.     For  more  than  two  years,  at  our 


committee  meetings,  I  have  witnessed  with  anxiety, 
month  by  mouth  and  week  by  week,  the  fire  of  his 
eye  grow  dim  and  the  vitality  of  his  organization 
gradually  yield  to  the  approaching  destroyer.  Though 
not  full  of  years,  he  was  crowned  with  honors,  and 
descended  to  the  tomb  with  the  benediction  of  a  nation 
upon  his  head.  He  lived  to  see  the  seed  he  had  sown 
ripen  into  grain  ready  for  the  harvest.  He  saw  the 
dawning  of  the  morn  so  long  and  so  anxiously  looked 
for  by  the  friends  of  freedom  in  the  United  States ; 
but  he  was  not  permitted  to  remain  with  us  to  join  in 
the  general  song  of  joy  which  awaits  the  triumph  that 
ere  long  shall  regenerate  the  nation.  That  Providence 
which  cannot  err,  has,  for  wise  purposes,  called  our 
friend  and  brother  to  his  reward.  While  we  sorrow 
for  our  loss  and  sympathize  with  his  bereaved  family 
in  their  deep  affliction,  we  can  truthfully  and  with 
exultation  say : 

"  The  great  work  laid  upon  his  manly  years 
Is  done,  and  well  done.     If  we  drop  our  tears, 
Who  loved  him  as  few  men  were  ever  loved, 

We  mourn  no  blighted  hope  nor  broken  plan 
With  him  whose  life  stands  rounded  and  approved 

In  the  full  growth  and  stature  of  a  man." 


Address  of  Mr.  Morrill,  of  Vermont. 

Mr.  Speaker  :  Not  until  we  assembled  here  to-day 
had  I  expected  to  take  any  part  in  the  present  pro- 
ceedings ;  but  I  feel  it  a  duty  and  privilege  to  add  a 
word  to  the  bulk,  if  nothing  more,  of  what  has  been 


■M 


already  so  eloquently  said  in  relation  to  our  late  asso- 
ciate. 

No  one  could  know  much  of  the  deceased  without 
at  once  perceiving  that  he  was  a  man  of  marked 
characteristics.  Ready,  resolute,  and  vigorous,  he  was 
ever  equal  to  the  occasion,  and  often  rose  to  the  higher 
keys  of  eloquence,  argument,  and  wit.  He  was  emi- 
nently a  man  of  true  courage,  moral  and  physical,  and 
never  flinched  from  the  maintenance  of  his  convictions 
or  the  protection  of  the  oppressed,  however  fiercely 
assailed.  When  the  storms  of  opposition  raged  most 
furiously,  then  he  appeared  like  the  rock,  secure  and 
unmoved  on  its  base. 

I  have  seen  him  discoursing  in  the  open  air  among 
the  people  of  his  own  district,  and,  take  him  all  in  all, 
I  have  been  disposed  to  regard  him,  prolific  as  our 
country  is  in  this  class  of  orators,  as  without  an  equal 
before  a  popular  audience.  Almost  from  the  start  he 
seemed  to  exert  a  matchless  power,  swaying  his  hearers 
to  and  fro  at  his  will  as  with  the  wand  of  a  magician. 
Fertile  in  all  the  resources  of  logic  and  persuasion,  he 
also  abounded  in  humor  and  those  sallies  of  wit  which 
make  a  public  speaker  both  feared  and  loved. 

But  I  have  seen  him  in  his  own  family,  and  it  was 
there  his  virtues  appeared  to  the  greatest  advantage. 
There  he  possessed  the  unbounded  confidence  and 
aifection  of  a  beloved  wife  and  a  large  family,  who 
were  cultured  and  trained  to  all  the  generous  hospitali- 
ties of  social  life,  and  to  all  the  duties  of  Christianity, 
blended  with  the  perpetual  sunshine  of  his  own  genial 
humor.     Here  he  had  made  up  and  was  surrounded  by 


•m 


all  we  understand  by  the  comprehensive  word  ho7ne ! 
He  will  not  soon  be  forgotten  here  ;  thei-e  he  will  never 
be  forgotten. 


Address  of  Mr.  Odell,  of  Ne^v  York. 


Mr.  Speaker  :  Some  days  since  a  distinguished 
member  of  this  body  announced  to  me  his  intention  of 
going  north  for  a  time  to  recruit  his  health.  I  felt,  sir, 
then  that  I  was  conversing  for  the  last  time  with  one 
of  my  brother  members  of  this  house.  It  was  clearly 
evident  to  my  mind  that  death  had  marked  him  for  his 
victim.  I  fully  realized  that  our  hands  were  clasped 
in  friendship  for  the  last  time.  He  left  the  succeeding 
day,  and  I  saw  his  arrival  announced  in  the  city  of 
Brooklyn,  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  in  part 
upon  this  floor.  He  went  to  the  home  of  his  friend 
and  mine.  AVith  more  than  ordinary  interest  I  looked 
into  the  local  papers  to  see  if  our  friend  was  realizing 
his  expectations.  Soon,  very  soon,  news  came  that  he 
was  rapidly  sinking.  On  Friday  last  I  received  intelli- 
gence that  he  was  past  recovery.  I  telegraphed  at 
once  to  my  brother  to  call  upon  him,  and  if  proper 
to  convey  to  him  my  heartfelt  and  kindly  sympathy. 
The  message  was  too  late.  "  The  strong  man  had 
fallen  on  sleep;"  his  spirit  had  taken  its  flight;  he  had 
passed  away  beyond  the  reach  or  need  of  human  sym- 
pathy to  the  enjoyment  of  the  sympathies  of  the 
redeemed  around  the  Throne.     Soon  after  I  had  sent 


my  telegram,  you,  sir,  announced  in  this  hall  the  death 
of  Hon.  Owen  Love  joy. 

My  apology  for  intruding  myself  upon  this  solemn 
occasion  is  in  the  fact  that  he  died  in  my  district,  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood  of  my  home,  and  was 
attended  in  his  last  days  by  our  mutual  friends. 

And  here  permit  me  to  say  that  but  few  public  men 
had  more  ardent  admirers  or  warmer  friends  in  the  city 
of  Brooklyn  than  our  deceased  brother.  I  first  met 
him  upon  the  floor  of  this  house  at  the  extra  session  of 
the  Thirty-seventh  Congress,  called  by  the  President 
on  the  4th  of  July,  1861.  I  deem  it  due  to  myself  to 
say  that  from  the  widely  different  political  views  we 
entertained  I  was  strongly  prejudiced  against  him. 
But,  sir,  I  am  glad  to  say  here  that  it  required  but  a 
few  days  of  personal  intercourse  for  these  prejudices 
to  disappear  and  vanish  away.  In  the  discharge  of  his 
official  duties  he  was  a  fearless  and  persistent  advocate 
of  what  he  thought  was  right,  and  was  always  courteous 
to  his  coUeao^ues  in  debate.  He  was  ever  foremost  in 
support  of  measures  to  suppress  the  rebellion.  That, 
to  my  mind,  was  with  him  paramount  to  the  one  ques- 
tion which  had  so  long  been  his  aim  and  object  in 
public  and  private  life.  His  views  upon  the  peculiar 
institution  of  the  country  he  often  told  me  were  now 
subservient  to  the  paramount  duty  of  the  nation,  the 
putting  down  by  military  power  the  enemies  of  onr 
country  ;  he  believing  that  when  this  was  accomj^lished 
the  object  and  purpose  of  his  life,  for  wdiich  he  had  so 
earnestly  labored,  would  also  be  accomplished. 

His  love  of  country  was  most  strongly  marked ;  his 


m- 


patriotism  none  could  doubt.  I  am  authorized  to  say 
that  tlie  Executive  had  in  our  departed  associate  at  all 
times  a  warm  supporter  of  every  measure  which  had 
for  its  aim  the  restoration  of  the  government.  Socially 
I  ever  found  him  genial,  frank,  and  outspoken ;  with 
no  man  upon  this  floor  were  my  relations  more  pleasant 
and  agreeable.  He  was  at  all  times  the  Christian 
gentleman. 

One  of  his  colleagues  who  had  long  known  him  in 
both  public  and  private  life,  and  who  is  his  political 
opponent,  said  to  me  last  night  that  Owen  Lovejoy 
was  an  honest  man.  In  any  age  of  the  world  this  were 
high  praise ;  but  in  these  degenerate  times,  when  pecu- 
lation and  fraud  abound,  when  the  whole  nation  seems 
demoralized,  such  a  reputation  is  of  priceless  worth. 
Happy  will  it  be  for  us  who  survive  him,  if,  when  our 
earthly  work  is  done,  the  same  record  shall  be  ours. 

Our  friend  has  closed  his  earthly  career.  His  brief 
days  of  life  have  suddenly  ended.  We  shall  no  more 
hear  in  this  hall  his  clear,  ringing  voice,  in  words  of 
more  than  ordinary  jwwer  and  eloquence ;  we  shall 
never  again  look  upon  his  robust  and  manly  person. 

In  relation  to  the  closing  scenes  of  his  life  I  learn 
from  home  this  morning  that  his  dissolution  was  calm 
and  peaceful.  He  died  resting  upon  the  promises  of 
that  gospel  which  he  had  for  so  many  years  of  his 
earlier,  life  preached  to  others.  His  last  days  were 
soothed  by  the  presence  of  a  devoted  wife  and  loving 
daughter.  He  died  away  from  home,  in  a  strange  city, 
but  administered  to  and  surrounded  by  kind  friends. 

I  would,  Mr.  Speaker,  take  to  my  own  heart  the 


•m 


HON.    OWEN    LOVEJOY. 


35 


lesson  taught  by  this  sudden  demise  of  the  brevity  of 
human  hfe.  It  clearly  indicates  to  us  all  that  our  life 
is  as  "  a  vapor  that  appeareth  for  a  little  time  and  then 
vanisheth  away."  It  warns  us  in  the  midst  of  our 
exciting  duties,  even  here  in  the  council  chambers  of 
the  nation,  so  to  live  in  humble  dependence  upon  God, 
with  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  when  our 
labors  are  ended  we  also  may  have  a  clear  title  to  an 
inheritance  that  is  incorruptible  and  that  fadeth  not 
away. 

The  resolutions  offered  by  my  honored  friend  from 
Illinois  have  my  hearty  accord. 


Address  of  Mr.  Davis,  of  Neic  York. 

Mr.  Speaker  :  I  have  been  desired  by  my  associates 
of  the  Committee  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  of 
which  our  deceased  friend  and  brother  was  chairman, 
to  express  in  their  behalf  the  sentiments  they  entertain 
in  respect  to  his  life  and  character. 

For  myself,  I  never  met  Mr.  Lovejoy  until  the 
commencement  of  the  present  session  of  Congress. 
He  had  been  known  to  me  by  reputation,  as  he  had,  I 
believe,  by  every  man  of  ordinary  intelligence  through- 
out the  great  rej)ublic,  as  a  man  of  marked  and  positive 
character,  entertaining  elevated  though  sometimes  ex- 
treme ideas,  and  who  exerted  all  the  powers  of  his 


g- 


36 


OBITUARY    ADDRESSES. 


intellect  to  impress  his  convictions  upon  others.  Con- 
fiding in  their  correctness,  with  that  positive  character 
which  pertained  to  his  nature,  he  doubtless  sometimes 
urged  his  views  so  persistently  as  to  excite  the  censure 
of  those  with  whom  he  was  brought  in  contact  or 
association. 

I  supposed,  sir,  until  I  knew  him,  that  he  had  not 
only  an  ardent  but  a  vindictive  temper ;  that  he  was 
rough  and  savage  in  his  nature.  I  knew  his  intense 
hatred  of  slavery,  and  I  supposed  that  the  fact  that  his 
murdered  brother  had  fallen  in  his  arms  years  ago,  as 
the  first  sacrifice  in  this  country  to  the  liberty  of  the 
press  in  its  denunciation  of  human  bondage,  had  so 
intensified  and  diffused  his  hate  as  to  give  tone  to  his 
entire  character. 

I  knew  him  as  a  man  of  intellectual  power,  because 
that  appeared  from  his  speeches  in  this  hall ;  but  it  is 
not  from  the  power  of  intellect  upon  this  floor  that  we 
are  to  form  a  correct  judgment  of  character.  Intellect 
is  sometimes  cold,  icy,  unaffected  by  human  sympathy, 
and  indiflTerent  to  human  suffering.  It  was  only  when 
we  came  together  in  our  committee-room,  where  the 
formalities  which  prevail  here  are  laid  aside,  and  in 
frank  intercourse  men  express  their  sentiments,  that 
we  from  whom  our  associate  has  been  taken  away 
found  that  the  highest  intellect  was  combined  with 
childhke  simplicity  of  character.  No  man  ever  pos- 
sessed a  more  kindly  or  genial  nature  than  Owen 
LoYEJOY,  He  was  ever  amiable  and  gentle,  always 
ready  to  do  full  and  ample  justice,  to  listen  patiently  to 
those  who  sought  redress  of  wrong,  yet  never  wilHng 


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to  yield  one  jot  or  tittle  of  that  high  principle  which 
he  applied  to  the  government  of  his  actions. 

Allusion  has  been  made,  Mr.  Speaker,  by  the  eloquent 
gentleman  from  Illinois  to  some  of  the  incidents  of  the 
early  life  of  Mr.  Lovejoy.  He  was  born  dependent. 
By  his  own  labor  in  the  field  he  acquired  the  means 
for  even  a  classic  education.  It  is  one  of  the  crowning 
glories  of  our  government  and  institutions,  of  which 
he  was  so  loyal  and  able  a  defender  and  advocate,  that 
they  open  the  pathway  of  the  poor  young  man  to  the 
halls  of  learning,  and,  tearing  down  every  barrier  to 
advancement,  bid  him  cultivate  his  intellectual  powers 
for  the  benefit  of  his  country  and  his  race. 

As  an  advocate  of  human  freedom,  Mr.  Lovejoy's 
name  was  known  through  the  civilized  world ;  and 
probably  no  man  in  this  entire  country  was  more 
universally  admired,  for  the  boldness  with  which  he 
expressed  his  sentiments  and  his  inflexible  fidelity  to 
the  cause  of  freedom,  than  Owen  Lovejoy. 

In  social  life  I  scarcely  ever  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  him ;  but  from  what  I  know  of  the  simplicity 
of  his  character,  his  kindness,  his  genial  nature,  and 
his  firm  integrity,  I  doubt  not  that  his  home  and  his 
fireside  were  ever  cheered  and  made  happy  by  his 
presence,  and  that  he,  when  he  was  called  to  rest, 

"  Like  one  that  wraps  tte  drapery  of  tis  couch 
About  him,  lay  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 

Mr.  Speaker,  death,  which  has  come  to  him,  must 
come  to  all.  Despotic  power  may  rear  no  barrier  at 
its  palace  gates  to  stay  death's   entrance.     Through 


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38 


OBITUARY    ADDRESSES. 


frowning  walls,  behind  the  bars  and  bolts  of  the  prisons 
of  the  State,  into  the  darkest,  deepest  dungeon  of  the 
meanest  criminal,  death  will  find  its  way.  The  mon- 
arch on  his  throne,  the  vassal  in  the  hall,  the  peasant 
in  his  cottage,  the  bondman  in  his  chains,  the  legislator 
in  his  seat,  must  die.  Death  is  and  ever  has  been  the 
universal,  the  inexorable,  the  immutable  law  and  con- 
dition of  organic  life.  God  has  written  in  His  own 
autograph,  upon  the  enduring  rocks  and  mountains  of 
the  globe,  in  language  that  science  has  interpreted  for 
the  benefit  of  our  race,  the  history  of  order  after  order 
and  generation  after  generation  of  organic  and  animal 
life,  which  for  untold  ages  before  the  ingress  of  man 
lived,  died,  and  sank  into  the  earth's  bosom. 

Yet  though  under  the  mandate  of  this  stern,  original 
law  man  enters  the  grave, 

"  Legions  of  angels  can't  confine  liim  there." 

The  portals  of  the  tomb  but  open  on  the  pathway  to 
a  new  life,  and  we  enter  there  with  all  the  capacity  for 
enjoyment  or  suffering  which  we  have  created  for  our- 
selves by  our  performance  or  neglect  of  duty  here. 
Who  can  doubt  that  Owen  Love  joy  has  passed  to  his 
reward  I  Perhaps,  sir,  death  came  suddenly  and  unex- 
pectedly. Often  it  comes  unheralded ;  it  comes  in  the 
midnight  hour;  it  comes  in  the  morning's  dawn;  it 
comes  in  the  miasma  of  the  atmosphere ;  it  comes  in 
the  flash  of  the  lightning,  with  step  unseen,  unheard. 

"  Leaves  have  their  time  to  fall, 
And  flowers  to  wither  at  the  north  wind's  breath, 

And  stars  to  set ;  bnt  all, 
Thou  hast  all  seasons  for  thine  own,  0  Death." 


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Sir,  death  to  Mr.  Lovejoy  came  not  in  fear.  He 
had  no  reason  to  fear  it.  It  was  nature's  law.  My 
eloquent  friend,  the  gentleman  from  Ohio,  [Mr.  Ash- 
ley,] told  us  truly  that  life  is  measured  by  actions,  not 
by  years ;  and  he  who  in  life,  whether  short  or  long, 
has  aided  in  the  elevation  of  his  race,  has  relieved 
human  suffering,  has  fed  the  hungry,  clothed  the  naked, 
and  lifted  the  shackles  from  the  slave,  has  lived  well, 
and,  no  matter  when  he  dies,  dies  nobly.  The  life  of 
our  friend  was  a  life  of  duty  conscientiously  performed, 
and  to  him  I  may  apply  the  language  of  the  poet : 

"  Life's  duty  done,  as  sinks  the  clay, 
Light  from  its  load  the  spirit  flies, 
While  heaven  and  earth  combine  to  say, 

*  How  blessed  the  good  man  when  he  dies.'  " 


Address  of  Mr.  Geinnell,  of  Iowa. 

Mr.  Speaker:  I  have  just  returned  from  a  long 
journey,  and  it  is  only  since  I  came  into  the  hall  this 
morning  that  I  received  an  intimation  that  I  was  to 
speak  on  this  mournful  occasion.  My  few  words  shall 
be  the  sympathetic  utterances  of  a  mourning  friend 
rather  than  those  of  a  classic  eulogist.  I  had  the 
honor  of  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  deceased, 
having  shared  the  bounteous  hospitality  of  his  western 
home,  and  at  his  bedside  in  this  city  I  strove  to  drink 
in  the  inspiration  of  his  spirit. 


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♦.#*V^''  ^  •^  r,'«'4^  -'^. 


.*-»>v^/, 


m  *.  \"»'*'r  ">-•.•-%.'   9  -m  w  r^-A^^v    ^  «  ^_   w  -  —    .1 


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40 


OBITUARY   ADDRESSES. 


■[dl 


But  a  few  weeks  since,  in  his  sick-room,  I  expressed 
fears  for  his  recovery.  I  saw  the  tears  course  down 
his  manly  cheek  as  he  said,  "  Ah !  God's  will  be  done, 
but  I  have  been  laboring,  voting,  and  praying  for  twenty 
years  that  I  might  see  the  great  day  of  freedom  which 
is  so  near  and  which  I  hope  God  will  let  me  live  to 
rejoice  in.  I  want  a  vote  on  my  bill  for  the  destruction 
of  slavery  root  and  branch."  He  saw  the  sun  of 
national  liberty  but  in  its  rising  when  he  hoped  to  gaze 
on  it  with  raptures  in  its  midnoon  splendor ;  but  mys- 
teriously has  God  called  him  above  the  storm-clouds 
of  war,  bringing  rest  to  his  weary  spirit,  and  new 
vision,  with  an  exchange  of  the  sorrows  of  earth  for 
the  joys  of  heaven.  A  Christian  and  a  hero  has  gone 
home  where  there  will  be  a  multitude  to  welcome  and 


no  one  wronged  to  confront  him. 

As  I  review  his  eventful  life  I  am  constrained  to 
believe  that  had  he  died  thirty  years  ago  the  world 
would  have  said.  We  have  lost  a  promising  scholar. 
Had  his  decease  been  twenty  years  since  he  would 
have  been  called  a  fanatic  by  almost  universal  acclaim. 
Had  he  left  the  world  ten  years  since  the  narrow  circle 
in  which  he  moved  would  have  felt  the  loss  of  an 
obscure  free-soil  candidate  for  Congress  and  a  Congre- 
gational minister.  But  what  have  ten  years  of  noble, 
heroic  devotion  to  freedom  achieved !  The  clergyman 
by  leaving  his  flock  for  the  promising  field  which  in- 
vited his  labors  is  justified.  A  man  and  a  citizen  before 
a  minister,  he  proved  that  his  politics  were  consistent 
with  and  not  derogatory  to  Christian  and  ministerial 
character,  following  the  example  of  Mayhew,  Cooper, 


.     M.     ^    X^A'tt' 


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«A'^'&^ 


and  Witherspoon  of  our  early  days,  who  were  not  more 
eminent  in  the  pulpit  than  learned  and  useful  as  legis- 
lators, neither  of  whom  made  apology  for  a  change  of 
avocation  when  they  might  speak  for  a  nation  in  the 
forum  and  espouse  the  cause  of  liberty  for  the  world. 
Our  friend  loved  peace,  and  accepted  the  arbitrament 
of  the  sword  only  as  a  dire  necessity  In  his  holy  hate 
for  the  rebellion,  and  slavery,  its  cause,  he  was 

"  For  the  peace  which  rings  out  from  the  cannon's  throat, 
And  the  suasion  of  shot  and  shell, 
Till  rebellion's  spirit  is  trampled  down 
To  the  depths  of  its  kindred  hell." 

And  then  for  his  country  there  was  the  ideal  of  the 
church,  "  beautiful  as  Tirzah,  comely  as  Jerusalem,  and 
terrible  as  an  army  with  banners,"  to  which  he  was 
consecrated.  The  witnesses  of  his  early  and  later 
devotion  made  him  as  eyes  to  the  blind,  feet  to  the 
lame ;  and  the  cause  which  he  knew  not  he  searched 
out.  His  home  was  his  castle,  where  he  gave  assurance 
of  shelter  and  defence  to  the  escaped  from  the  southern 
prison-house,  who  were  thousands,  and  he  caused  the 
widow's  heart  to  sing  for  joy,  while  the  blessing  of 
many  ready  to  perish  fell  on  him. 

Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  too  early  to  pronounce  the  eulogy 
on  our  deceased  brother.  Respice  jinem  ;  wait  till  the 
ripening  of  that  of  which  he  sowed  the  seed.  Give 
time  to  gather  up  the  great  thoughts  first  expressed  in 
the  log  school-house,  which  gathered  volume,  re-echoed 
from  the  pulpit,  and,  taken  up  by  the  telegraph  and  the 
press  as  from  the  statesman,  true  to  his  convictions  and 


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the  fearless  unapproached  orator.  The  glory  of  his 
life  and  the  grandeur  of  his  character  will  be  unappre- 
ciated until  the  last  shackle  falls  from  the  slave,  and 
the  muse  of  history  asks  for  those  who  were  of  the 
first  to  strike  for  the  poor  and  end  their  life  with 
humane  and  Christian  devotion. 

It  is  well  expressed,  Owen  Lovejoy  was  no  ordinary 
man.  In  the  stern  period  of  our  history,  breasting 
prejudice  and  obloquy,  he  rose  to  that  proud  distinction 
to  which  the  impassioned  eloquence  of  this  morning  is 
a  fitting  accord.  His  marked  characteristics  were 
evinced  in  firmness  like  his  native  mountains,  and  there 
was  a  scope  of  mind  which  seemed  to  borrow  breadth 
and  beauty  of  imagery  from  the  expanse  of  his  prairie 
home,  carpeted  with  tasteful  and  floral  decoration. 
Above  all,  he  died  a  Christian.  With  more  than  the 
honors  of  a  conqueror  will  his  dust  rest  in  sepulture 
among  the  people  by  whom  he  was  so  ardently  loved, 
and  his  soul,  ascending  to  his  God,  would,  if  it  might 
speak  to  us,  counsel.  Love  your  country,  remember  her 
despised  poor,  and  if  you  would  rescue  anything  from 
the  wreck  of  time,  lay  it  up  in  God. 


Address  of  Mr.  Arnold,  of  Illinois. 


Mr.  Speaker  :  My  own  indisposition  renders  it  en- 
tirely impossible  for  me  to  attempt  to  add  anything  to 
the  eloquent  words  spoken  here  to-day  of  our  deceased 


colleague.  I  will  not  attempt  it.  I  will  only  say  that 
in  looking  over  our  country  to-day,  among  all  the  brave 
and  eloquent  and  noble  men,  both  in  civil  and  military 
life,  who  are  seeking  to  uphold  the  flag  of  our  country, 
there  lives  no  truer,  nobler,  braver  heart  than  that 
which  beat  in  the  breast  of  Owen  Lovejoy. 

One  incident  in  his  life,  which  I  shall  never  forget, 
has  been  recalled  to-day.  More  than  twenty  years 
ago,  the  first  time  that  I  ever  saw  Mr.  Lovejoy,  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  hearing  him  in  the  city  of  Chicago 
speak  upon  the  su])ject  which  always  lay  near  to  his 
heart,  the  subject  of  liberty  to  the  slave ;  and  I  heard 
him  on  that  occasion  describe,  in  words  the  eloquence 
of  which  has  not  yet  faded  from  my  mind,  the  scene 
of  his  brother's  death,  that  brother  who  fell  a  martyr 
to  liberty  and  liberty  of  the  press.  And  I  remember 
that  after  describing  the  scene  of  that  death  in  words 
that  stirred  every  heart,  he  said  that  he  went  a  pilgrim 
to  his  brother's  grave,  and,  kneeling  upon  the  sod 
beneath  which  sleeps  that  brother,  he  swore  by  the 
everlasting  God  eternal  hostility  to  African  slavery. 
Well  and  nobly  has  he  kept  that  oath ;  and  when  the 
scene  of  these  days  shall  have  passed,  when  peace  shall 
once  more  be  restored  to  our  country,  when  the  his- 
torian shall  write  upon  his  records  the  names  of  those 
who  have  done  most  to  accomplish  the  great  deside- 
ratum for  which  he  lived,  the  destruction  of  African 
slavery,  in  my  judgment  he  will  record  the  name  of  no 
man  who  has  done  more  than  Owen  Lovejoy. 

Sir,  it  is  too  early  to  write  his  epitaph  or  to  pro- 
nounce his  eulogy.     When  this   civil  war  shall  have 


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OBITUARY    ADDRESSES. 


been  ended,  when  our  country  shall  be  once  more 
restored  to  unity  based  upon  liberty,  then  full  and  com- 
plete justice  will  be  done  to  Owen  Lovejoy. 


The  question  was  taken  on  the  resolutions,  and  they 
were  agreed  to. 

The  Speaker  appointed  the  following  as  the  com- 
mittee authorized  by  the  resolutions :  Messrs.  Farns- 
woRTH,  Rice  of  Maine,  and  Ross. 

And  thereupon  (at  five  minutes  past  three  o'clock 
p.  m.)  the  House  adjourned. 


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k» .-  •  —  ■""»•  •-v^-. .  ^  ft.  %'• 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
Tuesday,  March  29,  1864. 


The  following  message  was  received  from  the  House 
of  Representatives,  by  Mr.  McPherson,  its  Clerk : 

Mr.  President  :  I  am  directed  to  communicate  to  tlie  Senate 
information  of  the  death  of  Hon.  Owen  Lovejoy,  late  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  from  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  the 
resolutions  adopted  by  the  House  thereupon. 

The  Vice-President.    The  resolutions  will  be  read. 
The  Secretary  read  them  as  follows  : 

In  the  House  of  Representatives, 

March  28,  1864. 
On  motion  of  Mr.  E.  B.  Washburne, 

Resolved,  That  this  house  has  heai'd  with  profound  sorrow  the 
announcement  of  the  death  of  Hon.  Owen  Lovejoy,  a  member  of 
this  house  from  the  fifth  congressional  district  of  the  State  of  Illinois. 

Resolved,  That  this  house  tenders  to  the  widow  and  relatives  of 
the  deceased  the  expression  of  its  deep  sympathy  in  this  afflicting 
bereavement. 

Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  of  this  house  communicate  to  the 
widow  of  the  deceased  a  copy  of  these  resolutions. 

Resolved,  That  the  Spei^ker  appoint  a  committee  of  three  to 
escort  the  remains  of  the  deceased  to  the  place  designated  by  his 
friends  for  his  interment. 

Resolved,  That,  as  an  additional  mai-k  of  respect  for  the  memory 
of  the  deceased,  the  members  of  this  house  will  wear  the  usual 
badge  of  mourning  on  the  left  arm  for  thirty  days. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  communicated  to 
the  Senate  and,  as  a  further  mark  of  respect,  this  house  do  now 
adjourn. 


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46 


OBITUARY    ADDRESSES. 


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Address  of  Mr.  Trumbull,  of  Illinois. 


Mr.  President  :  This  is  the  third  time  death  has 
entered  the  small  circle  of  the  congressional  delegation 
from  Illinois  since  I  have  been  a  member  of  this  body — 
Harris,  Douglas,  and  Lovejoy,  all  in  the  prime  of  life 
and  vigor  of  manhood,  have  been  called  hence  within 
the  last  six  years.  They  were  all  men  of  mark,  and 
by  their  own  efforts  worked  their  way  to  places  of 
eminence  and  distinction,  not  only  in  Illinois  but  in  the 
nation.  In  many  respects  they  were  not  unlike :  they 
all  came  to  IlHnois  when  mere  youths,  without  means 
or  other  fortuitous  circumstances  to  aid  them  in  enter- 
ing on  the  struggles  of  life  ;  they  were  all  men  of  strong 
wills,  great  resolution,  and  indomitable  energy. 

Hon.  Owen  Lovejoy,  whose  loss  we  are  now  called 
upon  to  mourn,  expired  Friday  night  last,  at  the  house 
of  a  friend  in  Brooklyn,  New  York,  iu  the  presence  of 
his  wife  and  one  of  his  daughters,  the  only  members 
of  the  family  who  were  with  him.  He  had  gone  to 
Brooklyn  some  two  weeks  since  in  the  vain  hope  of 
regaining  his  health  by  escaping  the  anxieties  and  ex- 
citements to  which  as  a  member  of  Congress  he  was 
here  exposed.  He  was  naturally  of  a  vigorous  con- 
stitution and  possessed  of  great  physical  power.  A 
little  more  than  a  year  ago,  however,  he  was  attacked 


by  an  acute  disease  in  this  city,  wliich  prostrated  him 
for  a  long  time,  and  from  which  he  never  entirely  re- 
covered. Soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  present 
session  of  Congress  he  was  again  taken  down,  and  w^as 
confined  to  his  bed  most  of  the  time  for  two  months 
previous  to  going  to  Brooklyn.  He  leaves  surviving 
him  a  widow,  three  sons,  and  six  daughters. 

Mr.  LovEJOY  was  a  native  of  Maine,  and  fifty-three 
years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  death.  The  first  I 
remember  to  have  heard  of  him  in  Illinois  was  in  1837, 
at  the  time  his  brother  was  killed  by  a  mob  at  Alton, 
in  that  State.  The  circumstances  of  that  transaction 
have  passed  into  history.  Suffice  it  here  to  say  that 
his  brother,  in  undertaking  to  defend  a  religious  press 
which  he  had  established  in  the  interest  of  freedom, 
was  wickedly  slain.  That  transaction,  very  possibly, 
had  something  to  do  in  moulding  the  future  life  of  my 
deceased  colleague,  who,  at  the  time,  stood  by  his 
brother's  side,  and,  as  I  have  been  told,  kneeling  over 
his  body  as  his  life's  blood  gushed  out,  vowed  eternal 
hostility  to  slavery.  Not  more  faithfully  did  Hannibal, 
the  greatest  captain  of  ancient  times,  keep  his  youthful 
vow  of  eternal  hostility  to  Rome,  than  did  Owen 
LovEJOY  his  of  eternal  hostility  to  slavery. 

But  there  was  this  difference  between  the  vows : 
one  was  made  in  a  spirit  of  vengeance  against  a  rival 
nation  in  behalf  of  ambitious  Carthage ;  the  other,  in  a 
spirit  of  philanthropy  for  a  down-trodden  race  doomed 
to  perpetual  bondage.  Nobly  did  Mr.  Lovejoy  redeem 
his  pledge.  The  first  knowdedge  we  have  of  him  in 
Illinois  he  was  battling  against  slavery,  and  he  never 


•m 


ceased  the  strife  till  his  last  earthly  struggle  was  over. 
It  was  not  permitted  him  to  witness  the  consummation 
of  the  great  object  to  the  accomplishment  of  which  his 
life  had  been  devoted — the  entire  abolition  of  slavery ; 
but  he  lived  to  see  measures  taken,  with  the  inaugura- 
tion of  which  he  had  much  to  do,  which  it  is  believed 
will  soon  eifect  that  result.  Like  the  great  Jewish 
captain,  he  was  permitted  to  look  forward  to  the  land 
of  deliverance  and  promise,  not  to  enter  upon  it. 

In  Illinois  Mr.  Lovejoy  has  occupied  a  prominent 
and  influential  position  for  many  years.  Long  before 
he  held  political  office  or  entered  political  life  he  was 
known  as  an  anti-slavery  lecturer  of  great  power  and 
eloquence.  He  first  held  office  as  a  member  of  the 
Illinois  legislature  from  the  county  of  Bureau,  in  1854. 
In  the  fall  of  1856  he  was  elected  a  representative  to 
Congress,  and  since  then  has  been  consecutively  re- 
turned at  each  election,  having  been  three  times  elected 
from  the  district  as  it  existed  previous  to  the  last  ap- 
portionment and  once  from  the  district  as  it  now  is. 
He  acquired  and  maintained  his  popularity  by  appealing 
directly  to  the  masses.  He  had  nothing  to  do  with, 
and  knew  little  about,  the  appliances  sometimes  re- 
sorted to  by  politicians  to  acquire  position.  At  the 
outset  of  his  career  his  anti-slavery  views  were  far  in 
advance  of  most  of  those  around  him.  Nothing 
daunted  by  this,  he  never  hesitated  to  promulgate  and 
avovi-'  them  whenever  opportunity  offered,  and  often 
sought  and  made  opportunities  for  doing  it.  He  was  a 
pioneer  in  the  great  and  holy  cause  of  freedom,  and  a 
brave,  bold,  and  eloquent  man.     No  man  in  the  State, 


@- 


.p 


HON     OWEN    LOVEJOY. 


49 


if  any  in  the  nation,  ever  exerted  a  greater  influence 
on  the  masses  by  his  speeches  than  Owen  Lovejoy. 
He  had  a  loud,  clear  voice,  was  thoroughly  in  earnest, 
and  throwing  his  whole  soul  into  his  subject,  usually 
having  some  relation  to  slavery,  never  failed  to  impart 
to  others  something  of  that  detestation  and  abhorrence 
of  human  bondage  which  he  himself  felt. 

In  some  portions  of  Illinois  the  prejudice  against 
abolitionists,  of  whom  Mr.  Lovejoy  was  denominated 
the  chief,  was  such  that  he  could  not  address  public 
assemblies  without  danger  of  personal  violence,  but 
when  he  once  got  a  hearing  such  was  his  eloquence 
and  power  over  the  people  that  he  never  failed  to  dis- 
arm all  personal  opposition,  if  he  did  not  wholly  con- 
vince his  hearers.  No  man  in  the  State  did  so  much 
as  he  to  overcome  the  pro-slavery  prejudices  of  a  large 
portion  of  its  inhabitants,  and  to  elevate  that  great 
State  to  the  proud  position  it  now  occupies  on  the  side 
of  freedom  and  of  right.  But  it  is  not  alone  as  the 
eloquent  advocate  of  human  rights  that  we  should  look 
upon  my  departed  colleague. 

As  a  great  leader  and  champion  of  the  oppressed  he 
has,  indeed,  carved  out  for  himself  a  reputation  as 
lasting  as  time ;  but,  endowed  by  the  Great  Author  of 
all  with  faculties  of  the  highest  order,  and  susceptible 
of  indefinite  improvement,  his  philanthropic  and  noble 
spirit  was  accustomed  to  look  beyond  this  earthly 
sphere  to  a  country  where  the  wicked  cease  from 
troubling  and  the  weary  are  at  rest.  My  departed 
colleague  spent  his  life  in  pleading  as  well  for  deliver- 
ance from  sin  and  death  as  from  that  of  human  opj^res- 


m- 


*  ^.^'V  W  W  t'^'TA.'^ 


%-k''A-^  •»  «a%.^  www  r  a'a' 


sion.  For  sixteen  years  previous  to  holding  public 
office  he  was  the  acceptable  pastor  over  the  Congre- 
gational church  at  Princeton,  the  place  of  his  residence. 
There  are  few  men  who  have  left  behind  them  a 
brighter  record  than  Owen  Lovejoy.  He  was  the 
friend  of  the  oppressed,  the  genial  companion,  the 
eloquent  orator,  the  able  statesman,  the  Christian  divine, 
the  affectionate  husband  and  father.  What  more  can 
I  say  of  him  ?  To  his  bereaved  widow  and  children 
there  is  no  consolation  except  that  which  cometh  from 
that  other  and  better  world  whither  he  has  gone  and 
now  beckons  them  to  follow. 

I  offer  for  adoption  the  following  resolutions  : 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  receive  with  sincere  regret  the  aii- 
nouuccment  of  the  death  of  Hon.  Owen  Lovejoy,  late  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Kepresentatives  from  the  State  of  Illinois,  and 
tender  to  the  family  of  the  deceased  the  assurance  of  their  sympathy 
with  them  under  the  bereavement  they  have  been  called  to  sustain. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  be  directed  to  trans- 
mit to  the  family  of  Mr.  Lovejoy  a  certified  copy  of  the  foregoing 
resolution. 

Resolved,  That,  in  token  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  the  de- 
ceased, the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 


Address  of  Mr.  Pomeroy,  of  Kansas. 

I  wish,  Mr.  President,  to  pay  but  a  passing  tribute 
to  the  memory  of  one  I  learned  to  love  many  years  ago. 


m- 


•m 


A  A.  ^'■«  •- 


HON.    OWEN    LOVEJOY. 


51 


Owen  Love  joy  was  the  valued  and  tried  friend,  also, 
of  the  people  of  my  State  during  a  period  when  such 
friendship  was  invaluable.  His  heart  and  hand,  his 
voice  and  pen,  were  all  consecrated  to  such  a  work  as 
the  free-State  men  of  Kansas  were  called  to  achieve. 
I  well  remember  the  decided  and  cordial  approval  he 
gave  to  the  course  we  were  pursuing.  And  when  some 
doubted,  and  others  hesitated,  he  was  ready  to  act. 
And  during  the  long  and  trying  years  of  1855  and  1856, 
his  voice  cheered  us ;  his  hands,  and  others  like  his, 
sustained  us. 

I  remember  tlie  hospitality  at  his  fireside,  as  well  as 
the  stirring  eloquence  with  which  he  plead  our  cause 
before  his  own  people,  and  in  his  own  pulpit. 

I  had  the  pleasure  often  of  being  with  him  while  he 
addressed  the  assembled  thousands  of  earnest  and  free 
men  of  that  portion  of  the  great  northwest  during  the 
exciting  and  ever-memorable  canvass  of  1856.  That 
campaign  did  more  than  any  other  to  estabhsh  in  this 
country  a  literature  of  freedom. 

But,  sir,  I  need  add  nothing  to  what  has  been  said, 
for  this  is  no  occasion  for  many  word-s.  Indeed,  I  have 
known  enough  of  sorrow  and  felt  enough  of  its  desola- 
tion to  realize  that  the  truest  tribute  is  oftener  paid  in 
the  silence  of  grief  and  by  the  eloquence  of  tears.  In 
this  budding  spring-time  the  prairie  burying-place  at 
his  own  chosen  home  in  Princeton  will  receive  what 
remains  of  Owen  Lovejoy.  And  though  the  grass 
may  wave  and  the  flowers  bloom  above  and  around  him, 
yet  nothing,  nothing  can  ever  add  beauty  or  fragrance 


52 


OBITUARY    ADDRESSES. 


■m 


to  that  name  martyred  and  historic  before,  now  and 
hereafter  forever  to  be  dear  to  freedom,  and  as  immortal 
as  liberty — the  name  of  Owen  Love  joy. 


Address  of  Mr.  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts. 


It  is  proposed  to  adjourn  now  in  honor  of  Owen 
LovEJOY,  whose  recent  death  we  mourn.  Could  his 
w..^hes  prevail,  he  would  prefer  much  that  senators 
should  continue  in  their  seats  and  help  to  enact  into 
law  some  one  of  the  several  measures  now  pending  to 
secure  the  obliteration  of  slavery.  Such  an  act  would 
be  more  acceptable  to  him  than  any  personal  tribute. 

He  spoke  well  always;  but  he  believed  in  deeds 
rather  than  words,  altliough  speech  with  him  was  a 
deed.  It  was  his  contribution  to  that  sublime  cause 
for  which  he  toiled  always.  "  Words  are  the  daughters 
of  earth,  deeds  are  the  sons  of  heaven ; "  so  says  the 
Oriental  proverb.  But  there  was  little  of  earth  in  his 
words.  Proceeding  from  a  pure  and  generous  heart, 
they  have  so  far  prevailed  even  during  his  life  that  they 
must  be  named  gratefully  among  those  good  influences 
by  which  our  triumph  has  been  won.  How  his  en- 
franchised soul  would  be  elevated  even  in  those  abodes 
to  which  he  has  been  removed  to  know  that  his  voice 
was  still  heard  on  earth  encouraging,  exhorting,  insisting 
that  there  should  be  no  hesitation  anywhere  in  striking 


m- 


-m 


m- 


HON.    OWEN    LOVEJOY. 


53 


-m 


at  slavery ;  that  this  unpardonable  wrong,  from  which 
alone  the  rebellion  draws  its  wicked  life,  must  be 
blasted  by  presidential  proclamation,  blasted  by  act  of 
Congress,  blasted  by  constitutional  prohibition,  blasted 
in  every  possible  way,  by  every  available  agency,  and 
at  every  occurring  opportunity,  so  that  no  trace  of  the 
outrage  may  continue  in  the  institutions  of  the  land, 
and  especially  that  its  accursed  foot-prints  may  no 
longer  defile  the  national  statute-book.  Sir,  it  will  be 
in  vain  that  you  pass  resolutions  in  tribute  to  him  if 
you  neglect  that  cause  for  which  he  lived,  and  do  not 
hearken  to  his  voice. 

Shortly  before  he  went  away  from  Washington  to 
die,  I  sat  by  his  bedside.  There,  too,  within  call,  was 
the  beloved  partner  of  his  life.  He  was  cheerful ;  but 
his  thoughts  were  mainly  turned  to  his  country,  whose 
fortunes  in  the  bloody  conflict  with  slavery  he  watched 
with  intensest  care.  He  did  not  doubt  the  great  result. 
But  he  longed  to  be  at  his  post  again  to  teach  his  fellow- 
citizens,  and  to  teach  Congress,  how  vain  it  was  to 
expect  to  make  an  end  of  the  rebellion  without  making 
an  end  of  slavery.  It  is  only  just  to  his  fame  that  now, 
on  this  occasion  of  commemoration,  all  this  should  be 
faithftdly  told.  To  suppress  it  would  be  dishonest.  I 
could  not  speak  at  his  funeral,  if  I  were  expected  to 
unite  in  robbing  his  grave  of  any  of  these  titles  derived 
from  his  transcendent  courage  and  discernment  in  the 
trials  of  the  present  time. 

The  journals  of  the  House  show  how  faithfully  he 
began  his  labors  at  the  present  session.  On  the  14th 
of  December  he  introduced  a  bill,  whose  title  discloses 


-m 


•".*.•-».#,/  .  ^  *.  \'»'*''^'i  ••-%.:» 


r*'«TA;»  '  "_  --. 


54 


OBITUARY   ADDRESSES. 


its  character :  "  A  bill  to  give  effect  to  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  also  to  certain  provisions  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States."  It  proceeds  to 
recite  that  all  men  were  created  equal,  and  were  en- 
dowed by  the  Creator  with  the  inalienable  right  to  life, 
liberty,  and  the  fruits  of  honest  toil ;  that  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  was  instituted  to  secure 
those  rights ;  that  the  Constitution  declares  that  no 
person  shall  be  deprived  of  liberty  without  due  process 
of  law,  and  also  provides — article  five,  clause  two — 
that  "this  Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  shall  be  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land,  and  the  judges  in  each  State  shall  be 
bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  constitution  and  laws 
of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding ; "  that  it 
is  now  demonstrated  by  the  rebellion  that  slavery  is 
absolutely  incompatible  with  the  union,  peace,  and 
general  welfare  for  which  Congress  is  to  provide ;  and 
it  therefore  enacts  that  all  persons  heretofore  held  in 
slavery  in  any  of  the  States  or  Territories  of  the  United 
States  are  declared  freedmen,  and  are  forever  released 
from  slavery  or  involuntary  servitude  except  as  punish- 
ment for  crime  on  due  conviction.  On  the  same  day 
he  introduced  another  bill  to  protect  freedmen  and  to 
punish  any  one  for  enslaving  them.  These  were  among 
his  last  public  acts.  And  now  they  testify  how  hon- 
estly he  dealt  with  that  question  of  questions  in  which 
all  other  questions  are  swallowed  up.  It  is  easy  to  see 
that  he  scorned  the  wicked  fantasy  that  man  can  hold 
property  in  man.  This  pernicious  delusion,  which  is 
the  source  of  such  intolerable  pretensions  on  the  part 


'im 


a- 


.@ 


HON.    OWEN    LOVEJOY. 


55 


of  slave-masters,  and,  worse  still,  the  source  of  sucli 
intolerable  irresolution  on  the  part  of  professed  oppo- 
nents of  slavery,  could  get  no  hold  of  him.  He  knew 
that  it  was  a  preposterous  falsehood,  as  wicked  as  false, 
born  of  prejudice  and  infinite  credulity,  and  therefore 
he  brushed  aside  as  cobweb  all  the  fine-spun  snares  of 
law  or  Constitution  so  ingeniously  woven  in  its  support. 
Recognizing  freedom  as  the  God-given  birthright  of  all 
who  wear  the  human  form,  he  knew  no  duty  higher 
than  to  protect  it  always;  and  to  this  end  law  and 
Constitution  must  minister. 

He  had  never  been  a  judge,  and  was  not  even  a 
lawyer,  so  that  the  technicalities  and  subtleties  of  the 
profession  had  no  chance  of  enslaving  him.  Besides, 
to  a  nature  like  his,  independent  and  self-poised,  what 
were  the  sophisms  of  learning  and  skill  when  employed 
in  the  support  of  wrong  ?  It  was  enough  that  wherever 
slavery  appeared  it  was  in  defiance  of  that  commanding 
law  of  right  before  which  all  unjust  pretensions,  what- 
ever form  they  may  take,  must  disappear  like  the 
morning  dew  under  the  flashing  arrows  of  the  ascend- 
ing sun.  From  the  beginning  and  at  all  times  he  was 
fixed  against  all  compromise  with  slavery,  and  stood 
like  a  fortress.  Sir,  let  it  be  spoken  here  in  his  honor. 
He  lies  cold  in  death;  but  he  could  have  no  better 
epitaph  than  this :  "  Here  rests  one  who  would  not 
compromise  with  iniquity."  When  Senators  and  Presi- 
dents bent  to  the  ignoble  behest  he  stood  firm.  He 
was  gifted  to  see  that  slavery — unlike  the  tariff  or 
bank — did  not  come  within  the  range  of  compromise 
any  more  than  the  decalogue  or  multiplication  table. 


m- 


#  ♦^v^'*  ^^r.'j'ti^  V' '-_'••  *''.*%-#^,r."«  ^  %'k*»'^'i  #  •  v>  •  •  r  #^»-T^^ '  -  -  •  •#  »  •-. 


. p 

56  OBITUARY   ADDRESSES, 

He  saw  clearly  how  shamefully  unconstitutional  and 
inhuman  was  the  fugitive  slave  act,  in  spite  of  every 
apology  of  compromise,  and  refused  it  all  support.  He 
lies  cold  in  death ;  but  his  principles  will  live  to  sweep 
this  unutterable  atrocity  from  the  statute-book,  which 
it  still  fills  from  cover  to  cover  with  blackness. 

He  was  not  only  a  faithful  counsellor,  of  perfect 
loyalty,  in  whom  truth  was  a  religion  and  an  instinct, 
but  he  was  a  counsellor  whose  experience  of  mankind 
and  of  public  life  united  with  an  aptitude  for  affairs  in 
giving  to  what  he  said  an  added  value.  He  sat  for 
several  years  in  the  other  house  face  to  face  with  the 
slave-masters,  who  then  ruled  the  country,  so  that  he 
knew  them  well  in  every  respect,  but  especially  in  their 
open  brutality  and  their  surpassing  effrontery.  During 
this  period,  while  shut  out  from  participation  in  the 
public  business,  his  duty  was  that  of  champion,  and 
nobly  did  he  perform  it.  But  those  who  have  watched 
him  under  the  responsibihty  recently  cast  upon  a  repre- 
sentative of  his  character,  have  observed  that  he  de- 
veloped a  practical  talent,  which  rendered  him  useful 
not  only  as  champion,  but  also  as  workman  in  the 
machine  of  government.  He  was  a  supporter  of  the 
present  administration,  and  of  that  declared  policy 
which,  according  to  the  motto  of  Algernon  Sidney, 
adopted  on  the  arms  of  Massachusetts,  seeks  "jDlacid 
quiet  under  lil^erty  " — placldam  sub  Ubertate  quietem. 
But  there  are  few  among  his  associates  who  may  not  be 
instructed  and  inspired  by  his  magnanimous  exarajDle. 

He  had  been  a  life-long  soldier  of  liberty — baptized 
into  the  service  with  blood.     While  he  was  yet  young, 

@;- . ig 


m- 


HON     OWEN    LOVEJOY. 


57 


his  brother,  who  was  an  editor  in  Illinois,  devoted  to 
the  slave,  fell  a  victim  to  the  cause  he  had  served  so 
well.  His  fate  awakened  a  wide  sympathy  throughout 
the  country,  drawing  Channing  from  his  retirement  to 
speak  at  Faneuil  Hall,  and  touching  with  a  living  coal 
the  lips  of  Wendell  Phillips,  whose  voice  then  and 
there,  for  the  first  time,  flamed  forth  against  slavery. 
It  was  natural  that  Owen  Lovejoy  should  assume 
those  vows  of  perpetual  warfare  with  the  tyrant  mur- 
derer which  he  so  truly  kept ;  tyrant  murderer  of  a 
cherished  brother ;  tyrant  murderer  of  liberty,  not  only 
on  the  plantation,  but  everywhere  throughout  the  land ; 
tyrant  murderer  of  the  Constitution,  which  guards 
alike  the  rights  of  States  and  citizens  ;  and  tyrant  mur- 
derer of  national  peace,  without  which  there  can  be  no 
true  prosperity  or  happiness.  Thus,  as  a  soldier  of 
liberty  he  began,  and  he  kept  his  harness  on  to  the  last. 
He  was  one  of  the  most  amiable  of  men,  whose 
heart  was  abundant  with  goodness  and  gentleness,  and 
whose  countenance  streamed  with  sunshine.  But  on 
this  account  he  was  only  the  more  inexorable  toward  a 
wrong  which  was  so  cruel  in  all  its  influences.  A  child 
of  the  New  Testament,  he  was  no  stranger  to  the  early 
Hebrew  spirit,  and  he  had  little  patience  with  those 
who,  born  among  northern  schools  and  churches,  strove 
to  arrest  or  mitigate  the  doom  of  slavery.  The  famous 
curse  of  Meroz,  so  solemnly  denounced  against  neu- 
trality, which  had  been  echoed  from  ancient  Judea  by 
English  Puritans  in  their  great  contest,  found  an  echo 
also  in  his  heart:  "Curse  ye  Meroz,  said  the  angel  of 
the   Lord;    curse  ye   bitterly  the  inhabitants  thereof 


^•kV^'7:-'' '•v*^  v«V-'»  •"••.•.•.o.rr-  •.  %-4'v#'i  ♦  •x>-»  •  r /^•^▼j,^ « -_- - 


'•  ••-  k 


because  they  came  not  to  the  lielp  of  the  Lord ;  to  the 
help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty."  (Judges,  chap. 
5,  verse  23.)  Of  course  in  this  spirit  he  used  plain 
words,  and  did  not  hesitate.  But  if  he  did  not  hesitate 
it  was  because  he  saw  clearly  the  path  of  duty.  Amia- 
bility did  not  make  him  doubt.  He  was  a  positive 
man  of  positive  principles,  who  knew  well  how  much 
was  always  lost  by  timid  counsels,  especially  on  great 
occasions.  Because  there  were  some  about  him  who 
were  sceptical  and  irresolute,  he  was  not  disheartened ; 
but  he  preserved  to  the  last  an  example  of  fidelity 
which  history  will  piously  enshrine.  His  own  illustra- 
tions were  from  the  sacred  writings ;  but  a  heathen 
poet  has  given  a  warning  which  is  a  part  of  the  lesson 
of  his  life : 

"  Old  Priam's  age  or  Nestor's  may  be  out, 
And  thou,  0  Taurus,  still  go  on  in  doubt. 
Come,  then,  how  loug  such  wavering  shall  we  see  ? 
Thou  may'st  doubt  on ;  but  then  thou'lt  nothing  be." 


But  of  all  doubts,  there  are  none  more  painful  or 
indefensible  than  those  by  which  human  rights  are  put 
in  jeopardy. 

He  was  a  representative  of  lUinois,  born  in  Maine 
when  Maine  was  a  part  of  Massachusetts,  so  that  he 
was  in  a  certain  sense  a  connecting  link  between  the 
east  and  the  west.  The  welcome  which  he  found  in 
the  west,  and  his  complete  association  with  that  region, 
while  his  sympathies  overflowed  to  his  early  home, 
attest  better  than  arguments  the  ligaments  which  bind 


iS. 


■# 


HON.    OWEN    LOVEJOY. 


59 


. 


together  these  different  parts  of  our  common  Union; 
so  that  should  hereafter  any  maUgnant  spirit  seek  to 
sow  strife  between  us,  his  name  alone  will  be  a  stand- 
ing protest  against  the  perversity.  Born  in  the  east,  he 
was  honored  in  the  west.  Honored  in  the  west,  he 
never  lost  his  love  for  the  east.  But  the  whole  country, 
not  excepting  the  south,  had  a  home  in  his  patriotic, 
hospitable,  and  capacious  heart.  He  hated  slavery ; 
but  he  loved  his  country  in  every  part  with  heart,  soul, 
and  mind. 

He  was  of  the  old  guard  of  anti-slavery,  and  we 
bury  him  with  the  honors  that  belong  to  him.  Flags 
are  at  half  mast,  and  funeral  guns  are  sounding  in  our 
hearts.  But  from  his  new-made  grave  he  speaks  now 
to  the  whole  vast  republic,  animating  all  good  citizens 
to  labor  as  he  labored,  and  to  live  as  he  lived,  that  this 
land  may  be  redeemed.  Especially  does  he  speak  to 
the  State  which  honored  him  in  life,  and  to  those  as- 
sociate States,  which  constitute  the  mighty  northwest, 
where  he  had  found  the  home  .of  his  mature  years — 
Indiana,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Minnesota — ex- 
horting them  to  take  up  bravely  and  without  faltering 
the  cause  which  he  had  made  his  own,  that  it  may  not 
lose  by  his  death.  But  alas  I  the  vigilance  of  many 
will  be  needed  to  supply  the  place  which  he  filled. 

Such  a  character  must  be  mourned  in  Congress ;  but 
he  will  be  mourned  throughout  the  country  at  all  those 
virtuous  firesides  where  fathers,  mothers,  brothers,  and 
sisters  speak  of  those  who  have  helped  the  cause  of 
human  happiness  on  earth.  And  there  is  another  com- 
pany who  cannot  yet  pronounce  his  name,  but  who,  as 


60 


OBITUARY    ADDRESSES. 


they  hear  how  truly  he  was  their  friend,  will  rise  to  call 
him  blessed.  Already,  unseen  of  men,  in  vast  un- 
counted procession,  the  slaves  of  the  Union  help  to 
swell  his  funeral. 


The  resolutions  were  adopted   nem.  con.,  and   the 
Senate  adjourned. 


— @ 


. — .^.  t^^.^*/. 


.  ^-•■•-/  >-f-V*X.  '  •  "  '  'A'A'A*  ..  .  — -■•  •  "■'^•-•-V^. 


ft.  \»«''J 


